FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the size and role of EUFOR Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

David Lidington: We support the EUFOR Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We welcomed the EU agreement in October 2011 to continue to maintain the mission in support of its executive mandate, which was renewed by the UN Security Council in November 2011. We believe the mission acts as an important safeguard against instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and plays a key role in building the capacity of the Bosnian armed forces. The UK Government will continue to support the mission through the provision of personnel and financial contributions.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Elections

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has taken steps to encourage the full publication of the results of the National Assembly elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Alistair Burt: We have lobbied strongly, and called publicly for the Democratic Republic of Congo electoral commission (CENI) to take every measure to ensure that the compilation and publication of results of the National Assembly elections is free of irregularities. We expect that the full results of the DRC national assembly elections will be published by the end of January. There have been delays, but the DRC electoral commission (CENI) is publishing results on its website as they become available.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Elections

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) meetings and (b) correspondence his Department has had with the electoral commission (CENI) of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Alistair Burt: Our ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo met Pastor Ngoy Mulunda, the head of the DRC electoral commission (CENI) several times during December 2011 and January 2012. Our embassy in Kinshasa has also corresponded with CENI about its request for the UK to provide technical assistance ahead of the legislative assembly result. However, CENI has not provided us with details of its specific requirements.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Elections

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the legitimacy of the outcome of the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Alistair Burt: We share the concerns of some observation missions about the irregularities, some serious, during the recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, no observation mission has yet judged that the overall result of the presidential election would have been changed by these irregularities. We await their final reports.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Politics and Government

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Islington North of 20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1190W, on Congo: politics and government, if he will publish any correspondence sent by the British Ambassador in Kinshasa as part of the lobbying activity referred to in the Answer.

Alistair Burt: Our ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo lobbied those to whom the previous answer referred in a number of meetings held during December 2011 and January 2012. The ambassador sent no correspondence as part of this lobbying effort.

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department is giving to British Overseas Territories to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Alistair Burt: We are working closely with colleagues from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who have overall responsibility for co-ordinating Government support for the Diamond Jubilee, and with Buckingham Palace, to ensure that the Overseas Territories are fully involved in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, including the river pageant
	We are also supporting Overseas Territories' Governments in their plans to hold Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the Territories, which, for many, will include lighting a Beacon to mark the occasion.
	Citizens of the Overseas Territories will also be eligible for the Diamond Jubilee medal in line with the agreed eligibility criteria.

Iran: Diplomatic Relations

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with the government of Iran on provision of compensation for recent damage to the British Embassy in Tehran; and what its response has been.

Alistair Burt: We are currently assessing the damage caused to our embassy in Tehran and the associated costs caused by recent events, and will be seeking compensation from the Government of Iran, who have given initial assurances that compensation will be paid.

Morocco: British Nationals Abroad

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens who visited Morocco in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Morocco is a popular destination for many UK citizens. Visitor numbers for the past five years are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2007 336,693 
			 2008 274,747 
			 2009 252,945 
			 2010 338,060 
			 2011 (1)204,864 
			 (1) January to July inclusive Source: Moroccan Ministry of Tourism

Pakistan: Politics and Government

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the political situation in Balochistan, Pakistan following reports of killings and kidnappings of Baloch people.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) monitors human rights reporting closely, including non-governmental organisation reporting, and the FCO will be publishing its 2011 Annual Human Rights Report this March.
	The allegations about Balochistan are extremely serious, and we continue to emphasise to the Pakistani authorities the importance of investigating thoroughly any accusations of extrajudicial killings or enforced disappearances. The passing in the National Assembly in December 2011 of a Bill creating a National Commission on Human. Rights should help to investigate such violations.
	The Government of Pakistan faces a difficult law and order situation in Balochistan, including kidnappings and terrorism. Our high commission in Islamabad and our deputy high commission in Karachi engage regularly with the Government of Pakistan and the provincial government in Balochistan on matters of security, rule of law and human rights. Officials also meet representatives of the Baloch community. We urge that action to counter militant or insurgent activity is conducted in line with Pakistan's obligations under national and international law.

Spain: Tourism

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to provide information for UK tourists in Spain of limitations on the import to the UK via Spain of duty free products purchased in Gibraltar.

David Lidington: Information for UK tourists on duty free products purchased in Gibraltar is provided on the Foreign Office's Gibraltar travel advice pages. There is general advice on the import and export of goods (e.g. tobacco and alcohol) as well as advice on exporting to Spain and directly to the UK from Gibraltar because of its position outside the Common Customs Area. We will review the Gibraltar travel advice to ensure that it is clear.

Tuareg People

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the situation of the Tuareg people in (a) Libya, (b) Niger, (c) Mali and (d) Chad.

Alistair Burt: The British Government continue to monitor the situation of the Tuareg in Libya, Niger, Mali and Chad. We are concerned by recent reports of clashes between Tuareg rebels returning from Libya and Malian security forces. We do not condone armed action by rebel groups. We encourage all parties to find peaceful solutions, leading to the full integration of Tuareg communities into society.
	In Libya the Tuareg were often marginalised. But many joined the Libyan army and were perceived as supportive of the former Gaddafi regime. We are aware of media reporting that some Tuareg fighters have travelled to other countries in the region since Gaddafi’s fall. We believe that anyone who may have committed crimes in the past should be held to account under transitional justice arrangements. But we also look to the new Libyan authorities—such as those soon to draft a new constitution —to ensure protection for the rights of members of those groups. We have raised the issue and will continue to do so.

Overseas Trade

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the Third Special Report from the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, HC 1545, paragraph 14, when his Department plans to publish its scoping paper on how to extract the best possible value from HMG's market access.

Mark Prisk: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), officials met on 13 September for a stock take of how market access issues are handled across Government, with the aim of ensuring an integrated Whitehall-wide approach to addressing market access barriers.
	The Departments are keen to ensure any overhaul of the current mechanisms does not add a layer of bureaucracy; any changes must result in direct benefits for business or improve Government efficiency. A light touch approach has been agreed to include the identification of areas where Departments need to work together and ensure information is shared appropriately. Accordingly, a stock-take report was not produced.
	Good progress has been made in delivering the UKTI strategy and implementing the FCO Charter for Business. HMG recognises the importance of fully utilising the UK's diplomatic network overseas and ministerial visits to assist in delivering value to UK business. Ministerial visits briefings have a strong focus on UK's top commercial priorities including key market access issues, ensuring Ministers, and our diplomatic network overseas, are lobbying host Governments on the commercial and trade issues of most importance to British business interests.
	Further close working across Government, and in consultation with business, is also being taken forward on a number of other fronts. For instance, we have consulted with business on our top market access issues in regards to China, building our joint understanding of the issues with a view to addressing these through a combination of our commercial diplomacy work and in influencing the European Commission to address UK priorities in bilateral trade discussions.
	In addition, DEFRA, as part of a joint Government/industry agri-food export action plan to be published later this month, will be working with industry experts and colleagues in BIS, UKTI and FCO to build up the HMG assessment of barriers to trade facing UK agri-food companies in key markets. This will raise cross-Government awareness of the obstacles facing this sector, and help build a co-ordinated lobbying effort.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Council Housing: Standards

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to tackle black mould in council properties.

Andrew Stunell: The Decent Homes Standard was introduced in 2001 to ensure that council properties meet a statutory minimum standard and are free from serious hazards (category 1) as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. Damp and mould growth is a category 1 hazard. Councils are under a duty to take action in such cases.

Council Tax Benefits

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the likely change in take-up of council tax benefit by pensioners in preparing his proposals for council tax benefit localisation.

Bob Neill: The Government intends pensioner council tax support should not be reduced as a result of the introduction of this reform, and is therefore proposing to continue the current systems of criteria and allowances.
	Those pensioners in most need and who qualify for pension credit guarantee credit will continue to be eligible for 100% council tax support. Others will continue to be means-tested. The Government envisages there will be minimal changes to the way council tax support is delivered for pensioners as a result.
	As previously championed by the Royal British Legion, the Local Government Finance Bill will make council tax support a rebate/discount—rather than a benefit.
	The previous Government changed the law to rename council tax benefit, but never enacted their own provisions.

Departmental Visits Abroad

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to place on his Department's website details of Ministerial overseas travel, gifts and hospitality for the period (a) May to July 2011 and (b) August to October 2011.

Bob Neill: Data covering the period April to June 2011 can be found on our website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/transparencyingovernment/ministerialdata/
	In line with other Government Departments, we will publish data for the quarters July to September 2011 and October to December 2011 in due course.

Empty Property: Shops

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the (a) Community Right to Buy and (b) Community Right to Try proposals for empty shops on high streets.

Grant Shapps: No formal assessment has been made of the Assets of Community Value provisions (Right to Bid) contained in the Localism Act 2011 as the provisions and the relevant secondary legislation have yet to be commenced. In England, the provisions will be commenced later this year. Commencement of the legislation in Wales is a devolved matter.
	The Government will respond to the Portas Review in the spring.

Fire Services: Finance

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed funding reductions for Metropolitan fire services on their capacity to secure (a) specialist equipment and (b) capability for national resilience.

Bob Neill: As the delivery of fire services—including national resilience—are a local matter, determined by individual fire and rescue authorities, no formal assessment of the effect on metropolitan fire and rescue services has been undertaken by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	I also refer my hon. Friend to my letter of 6 December 2010 to the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, which outlines how fire and rescue authorities can make sensible savings without impacting on the quality and breadth of services offered to their communities.

Fire Services: Finance

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the percentage efficiency savings achieved in each fire authority area since 2004.

Bob Neill: On coming into power the coalition Government decided to cease the burdensome requirement on fire and rescue authorities to report to Government their efficiency savings. As well as imposing an administrative burden, such notional figures were also potentially misleading. As the delivery of fire services—including efficiency savings—are a local matter, determined by individual fire and rescue authorities, no formal assessment of efficiency savings since 2004 has been undertaken by the coalition Government.
	Fire and rescue authorities are accountable to their communities; they publish their expenditure so people can see how costs and savings are arrived at.

Fire Services: Training

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to review the level of joint training undertaken by fire and ambulance services.

Bob Neill: holding answer 20 January 2012
	My Department is working with other Government Departments and the emergency services to improve joint ways of working in response to particular identified risks. In particular, in response to the Report of the Coroner's Inquests into the London bombings of 7 July 2005, the Government agreed that it would co-ordinate a wider review of multi-agency considerations in single-service training. The Cabinet Office are co-ordinating this review and will ensure that results are made available once it is completed.

Housing Benefit

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the time it will take to re-house those seeking to move to a smaller property following implementation of the proposed limit on housing benefit for tenants who under-occupy their property.

Grant Shapps: No central estimate has been made. However, initiatives like “HomeSwap Direct” will make it easier for social tenants to move home, whilst protecting their security of tenure.

Housing Benefit

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many alternative properties are available for those seeking to downsize as a result of the proposed limit to housing benefit for tenants who are under-occupying their property.

Grant Shapps: We estimate that 560,000 households in England will be affected by this measure, with 440,000 of these under-occupying their social homes by 1 bedroom.
	The introduction of “HomeSwap Direct” will provide all social tenants with the opportunity to search for matches, allowing under-occupying households to swap with those who may be overcrowded.
	In addition, provisions in the Localism Act will remove transferring tenants who are not in housing need from the allocation rules. This will enable councils to support under-occupying tenants to find a more suitably sized property, and free up family-sized housing for other households in need.

Local Government: Voluntary Organisations

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to require local authorities to publish their spending in the voluntary sector; if he will publish aggregate figures (a) by region and (b) nationally; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: Local authorities are required by the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency to publish all expenditure over £500—including costs, supplier and transaction information—on a regular basis. The code also states that copies of contracts, tenders and grants to the voluntary and community sector should be clearly itemised and listed.
	Officials in the Department for Communities and Local Government are working with the Local Government Association on an initiative to improve the comparability of data on local authorities' spending in the voluntary and community sector, including expenditure under £500.
	The Government are committed to reducing data burdens placed on local authorities. For this reason, the Government does not intend to impose a new data burden on local authorities to submit sector spend data for central aggregation and publication.

Rents

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the use of upward-only rent reviews; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: The trend towards shorter leases, which do not include rent reviews, has meant that the upward only rent review clause is not as prevalent as it once was. The 2007 Code for Leasing Business Premises includes the recommendation to landlords that they should take a flexible approach to rent review clauses in lease negotiations. This includes the consideration of alternatives to upward only rent reviews. The need to promote the code and encourage the take up of its recommendations in full is something I recognise and am already working towards. Recommendation 18 of the Portas review of the high street, makes specific reference to the promotion of the leasing code and we will be providing a response to the report in the spring.

Shops: Empty Property

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of shops are empty in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England; and what assessment he has made of these statistics.

Grant Shapps: This information is not held centrally. While there are commercial providers of such data, these tend to be focused on limited geographical areas such as town centres, rather than entire administrative areas.
	However, shop vacancies are naturally of concern, and are a visible indicator of the plight of our high streets. This is one of the reasons why the Prime Minister asked Mary Portas to undertake her review of the high street, the report of which was published on 13 December 2011. The report made a number of recommendations for revitalising struggling high streets, and the Government will be responding to these in the spring.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Football

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to encourage (a) five-a-side leagues and (b) investment from businesses operating five-a-side leagues into school and community pitches.

Hugh Robertson: The new Football Association (FA) National Game Strategy 2011-15 has an increased focus on providing local and flexible formats of football to suit changing consumer lifestyles. More specifically, the FA is working to affiliate and develop football in the commercial small-sided sector. This is a key focus of the participation investment that Sport England makes to the FA. Further information can be found at:
	http://www.thefa.com/GetIntoFootball/NewsAndFeatures/2011/national-game-strategy-refresh-011211
	The new youth sport strategy will aim to improve links between schools and community sports clubs. By 2017 we will have established at least 6,000 new school-club links, Football has pledged that 2,000 of their clubs will be linked to secondary schools. In addition, every County Sport Partnership will have a dedicated officer responsible for making links between schools and community sports clubs in their local area. Further information can be found at:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/8761.aspx

Piracy

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK of measures contained in the US Stop Online Piracy Act.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has made no assessment.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions: Housing

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the use of bioliquids to reduce carbon emissions for off-mains gas households.

Gregory Barker: As part of the work on the Heat Strategy, which will be published later this year, we have considered a wide range of technologies and the role they can play in decarbonising domestic heating. The strategy will underline the particular importance of encouraging households off the gas grid to take up low carbon heating alternatives.
	As stated in the Renewable Heat Incentive policy document (published in March 2011), we are considering whether to support bioliquids as part of developing the second phase of the scheme.

Radioactive Waste: Scotland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to delay all movements of radioactive materials from Scotland to England for the purposes of long-term storage or disposal until policies are developed which will ensure the return of those materials to Scotland in the event of Scottish independence.

Charles Hendry: The Government are clear that Scotland benefits from being part of UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. The Government are not making plans for independence as we are confident that people in Scotland will continue to support the Union in any referendum.
	The Government do not therefore see the need to change their policy in respect of movements of radioactive materials from Scotland to England for the purposes of long-term storage or disposal. This includes the existing spent fuel movements, from Torness and Hunterston B nuclear power stations, which the NDA are contracted to receive and spent Magnox fuel from Chapelcross which will continue to be transported to Sellafield for reprocessing.
	Also the NDA has consulted on moving Dounreay Fast Reactor material to Sellafield for reprocessing, as this represents the best way of dealing with this UK legacy material.

Radioactive Waste: Scotland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Scottish Government, (b) HM Treasury and (c) the Prime Minister with regard to the transportation of Scottish radioactive wastes to England.

Charles Hendry: The NDA is responsible for the clean-up of the UK's legacy civil nuclear sites; reporting both to UK and Scottish ministers as set out in the Energy Act (2004). As part of this approach the authority has to agree its strategy with both the UK and Scottish Governments on how best to decommission sites, including where it is most appropriate to treat material. This may require the transport of material between sites, taking account of relevant UK and Scottish policies. The Department discusses such matters with other Government Departments and the Scottish Government as necessary.

Radioactive Waste: Scotland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the legal changes that would be required to retain Scottish radioactive waste in England in the event of Scottish independence.

Charles Hendry: The Government are clear that Scotland benefits from being part of UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. The Government are not making plans for independence as we are confident that people in Scotland will continue to support the Union in any referendum. The NDA reports to both UK and Scottish Ministers in relation to its activities, as required by the Energy Act (2004).

Radioactive Waste: Scotland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what (a) short, (b) medium and (c) long-term economic and environmental benefits will be provided to Copeland in the event that radioactive materials from Dounreay are transported to Sellafield.

Charles Hendry: Sellafield is in the unique position of having the expertise and infrastructure to deal safely and effectively with a range of materials from NDA sites. This enables the NDA to deliver effective progress on the UK-wide decommissioning and clean-up programme. As part of this approach, the NDA is able to make significant and continuing investments in the Sellafield site and west Cumbria generally through its support for the Britain’s Energy Coast programme. Any legitimate community impacts resulting from this programme of activity can be dealt with effectively through the planning process and discussions between planning authorities and the NDA.

Radioactive Waste: Scotland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if his Department will commission the development of a financial framework agreement for (a) the treatment, storage and disposal of Scottish radioactive waste in England and (b) the removal and transportation of Scottish radioactive waste to Scotland from England in the event of Scottish independence.

Charles Hendry: The NDA is funded by the UK Government and reports to both UK and Scottish Ministers in relation to its activities, as required by the Energy Act (2004). The Government are clear that Scotland benefits from being part of UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. The Government are not making plans for independence as we are confident that people in Scotland will continue to support the Union in any referendum. For low level waste disposal, facilities can, subject to environmental regulation, compete on a commercial basis for contracts to receive consignments from anywhere in the UK and this ensures a complementary approach to radioactive waste management.

Renewables Obligation

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much was paid to renewable electricity generators in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales in respect of renewable obligation certificates in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008, (iii) 2009 and (iv) 2010.

Charles Hendry: The total level of renewables obligation support(1) for the UK for 2007-08 to 2010-11 is set out in the following table. The support level by country has not been estimated.
	(1 )Defined as the level of the renewables obligation in ROCs multiplied by the buyout price in pounds per ROC. These two pieces of information are set out in Ofgem 's annual renewables obligation reports.
	
		
			 Renewables obligation support 
			  £ million nominal 
			 2007-08 876 
			 2008-09 1036 
			 2009-10 1119 
			 2010-11 1285 
		
	
	Supporting renewable electricity helps the UK meet its renewable energy targets and brings wider benefits, including decarbonising the electricity mix, innovation benefits and creating jobs in the renewables industries and their supply chains.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Pollution

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason measures to reduce air pollution were not included in her Department's 2011-12 business plan.

Richard Benyon: Departmental business plans are intended to set out the structural reform priorities and do not include every policy responsibility or work programme led by the Department. The fact that air quality is not explicitly mentioned in the DEFRA business plan, published in May 2011, does not in any way reflect a lack of importance attached to air quality nor to its significance as a cross-government issue.
	The health and environmental benefits that can be obtained from improving air quality remain the key drivers for action in this area. DEFRA is also committed, through the coalition agreement, to work towards full compliance with EU air quality standards.
	The Natural Environment White Paper, published in summer 2011, set out our specific commitments on air quality including: our consultation on plans for the achievement of NO2 limit values; action to investigate further use of low emission zones; and improving arrangements for local air quality management and delivery. Collectively, these continue to ensure that air quality is given priority across government policies. However, we will give further consideration to this as part of the review of our business plan during 2012.

Animal Health and Welfare Board for England

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) animal welfare and (b) animal health experts are represented on the Animal Health and Welfare Board.

James Paice: In line with the recommendations of the England Advisory Group on Responsibility and Cost-sharing, the non executive members of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England are appointed as individuals rather than representatives of organisations, sector or interest groups. They bring a range of expertise and skills to the board’s deliberations. The board can also access further expertise when the need arises.

Animal Welfare: Cormorants

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was to the public purse to administer the cormorant licensing regime in England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: The licensing regime for the management of cormorants in England is administered on behalf of the Government by Natural England.
	Cormorant licences are generally issued over the period between September and April in a given season, and based on those issued over 2010-11, Natural England estimates the administration costs to amount to some £89,000.

Birds of Prey

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the predation of song birds by sparrowhawks.

Richard Benyon: The effect of raptors, including sparrowhawks on the songbird and racing pigeon populations was reviewed in the multi-stakeholder, Raptor Working Group's report to Ministers in 2000. Since then, these issues have been the subject of further research involving stakeholder organisations. Population trends of sparrowhawks and songbirds are monitored annually by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).
	The Raptor Working Group concluded
	“that it has primarily been changes of agricultural practices, rather than recoveries of lowland raptor populations, that have been responsible for the widespread declines in many formerly common farmland birds.”
	A major study (published in 2010) by the BTO and funded by SongBird Survival, used information made available by partners in the BBS and compared detailed bird observations at over 200 sites in the period 1967-2000 with those of over 2,000 volunteers surveying sites during the period 1995-2005 and was the most sophisticated, long-term and large-scale analysis of its kind ever undertaken. It found that, for 22 of the 29 songbird species examined, there was no evidence that increases in common avian predators (including sparrowhawks) and grey squirrels were associated with large-scale depression of prey abundance or population declines. For the majority of declining species with unfavourable conservation status population, declines appeared to be due to factors other than predation. Other studies have suggested that recent songbird population changes have been influenced by a range of other factors, most notably changes in farmland and woodland management.
	Among the seven species in which there were significant negative effects of particular predators, associations between the increase in the number of sparrowhawks during the period 1967-2000 and declines in the abundances of bullfinches, tree sparrows and reed buntings will help to identify priorities for future work on the effects of predation on songbird populations.

Countryside: Access

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to facilitate better access to, and enjoyment of, the English countryside by members of the public.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA is responsible for policies which help to provide and manage access to the countryside, including setting the legislative and policy framework for public rights of way, and access to open country and registered common land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. We sponsor our National Park Authorities and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which are responsible for the management of, and access to, some of our finest areas of countryside; we also sponsor Natural England which has a strong role in promoting access to the natural environment.
	We are committed to introducing the right of coastal access under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 on a stretch of the English coast at Weymouth in time for the start of the 2012 Games. We are aiming to open up a further five areas around the English coast by 2014-15.
	We are working with Natural England on plans for Paths for Communities, which is a new initiative to help local community partnerships to develop improved local path networks to boost tourist revenue in their area. We have allocated £2 million to the initiative as part of the Rural Economy Growth Review. Natural England hopes to announce detailed arrangements in April 2012.

Flood Control

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for work on flood and coastal environmental risk management schemes in each English region in 2012-13; and how much her Department plans to allocate to (a) the Environment Agency and (b) others for such schemes in 2012-13

Richard Benyon: Decisions on allocations of funds for 2012-13 are subject to the final approval of the Regional Flood and Coastal Committees and sign off by the Environment Agency Board, which will meet in early February.
	In 2012-13, DEFRA will allocate £251.4 million (revenue) and £258.8 million (capital) to the Environment Agency for flood and coastal erosion risk management which includes funding for schemes taken forward by local authorities and internal drainage boards.

Nature Conservation: EU Law

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she has taken to review the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive.

Richard Benyon: As announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), in the Autumn Statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810, DEFRA is currently conducting an in-depth review of how the EU Habitats and Birds Directives are currently being implemented in England, working with stakeholders and other Government Departments.
	The vast majority of development projects successfully meet the directives’ requirements but a small number raise particularly complex issues which can give rise to delays. The review is looking at the reasons behind this and is seeking to identify solutions, engaging interested parties in its work, while maintaining the integrity of the purpose of the directives. The review will report in March.
	Further information on the review, including its terms of reference, can be found on the DEFRA website.

Sky Lanterns

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government is taking to limit the effect of sky lanterns on (a) crops, (b) coastguard and (c) fire services.

Richard Benyon: The Government recognise that there are problems with the release of sky lanterns, including fire risks or false call-outs to coastguards if people seeing the lanterns think they are emergency flares. Our approach is to raise public awareness and ask people, wherever they are, to think before they use them, including contacting the Coastguard if they are planning to launch these lanterns near the coast.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects her Department to conclude resolution of the backlog of legacy asylum cases.

Damian Green: As Jonathan Sedgwick, then acting chief executive of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), reported to the Home Affairs Committee on 12 September 2011, 479,000 of the 500,500 cases in the legacy programme had been fully concluded by summer 2011.
	23,000 remaining cases were fully reviewed but due to various barriers could not be brought to a final conclusion. The UKBA established the Case Assurance and Audit Unit (CAAU) to remove such barriers and bring these cases to a final conclusion. Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UKBA, reported to the HASC on 22 December that the number of live cases had reduced to 17,000. CAAU will continue to progress these cases and resolve them as barriers are lifted.
	CAAU is also responsible for the active monitoring of 98,000 controlled archive cases. As Rob Whiteman reported to the HASC on 22 December, this has now reduced to 93,000 cases and the UKBA has committed to reduce this to fewer than 50,000 cases by April 2013.

Departmental Procurement

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which pilots her Department currently has open on procurement.

Damian Green: The Home Department, including its executive agencies, currently has no pilots open on procurement.

Deportation: Egypt

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were deported from the UK to Egypt in each year since 1982.

Damian Green: The following table provides the available information on the number of all nationals who were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK to Egypt between January 2004 and September 2011. Destination data have only been collated since 2004; data for earlier years are not available.
	
		
			 Total removals and voluntary departures (1, 2) , to Egypt (3) , January 2004 to September 2011 (4) 
			  Number of departures 
			 2004 99 
			 2005 141 
			 2006 127 
			 2007 176 
			 2008 224 
			 2009 211 
			 2010(4) 190 
			 January to September 2011(4) 143 
			 (1) Includes enforced removals, people departing voluntarily after notifying the UK Border Agency of their intention to leave prior to their departure, people leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by Refugee Action (prior to April 2011, run by the International Organisation for Migration) and people who it has been established left without informing the immigration authorities. (2) Removals and voluntary departures recorded on the system as at the dates on which the data extracts were taken. (3) Destination as recorded on source database. (4) Provisional figures. Figures will under record due to data cleansing and data matching exercises that take place after the extracts are taken. 
		
	
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK within Immigration Statistics. The data on removals and voluntary departures by country of destination is available in the latest release, Immigration Statistics: July—September 2011, tables rv.06 and rv.06.q, from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Human Trafficking: Repatriation

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to provide financial support to victims of human trafficking who wish to return to their country of origin.

Damian Green: The Government’s Assisted Voluntary Returns for Irregular Migrants (AVRIM) programme is available to non-European economic area (EEA) victims of trafficking in the UK. This programme is run in partnership with the Choices service of Refugee Action. The AVRIM scheme can provide support in acquiring travel documentation, a flight to their country of origin and onward domestic transport, and airport assistance at departure and arrival airports. In some cases, Choices will arrange referral to appropriate partners in the country of origin. Victims may also be eligible for reintegration assistance of up to £1,000.
	The Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP), also run in partnership with Choices, offers assistance to eligible non-EEA victims who have raised trafficking as part of an asylum claim and want to return permanently to their country of origin.
	Assistance is also available under the Assisted Voluntary Return for Families and Children (AVRFC) programme where the victim is an unaccompanied child or part of a defined family unit in the UK with at least one child.
	Further details can be found on the UK Border Agency website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/modernised/returns/assisted-voluntary-returns.pdf?view=Binary

Immobilisation of Vehicles

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) legislation is in force to regulate and (b) guidance her Department issues on the regulation of the activities of private wheel clamping companies.

Lynne Featherstone: The Private Security Industry Act 2001, which regulates the activity of immobilisation of vehicles, does not apply to businesses. However, the Act requires individuals to be licensed by the Security Industry Authority in order to carry out such activity.
	As announced on 17 August 2010, it is our intention to ban wheel clamping, blocking in or towing away of vehicles without lawful authority. Provisions are included in the Protection of Freedoms Bill.
	Subject to parliamentary approval, it is expected the Bill will receive Royal Assent by May 2012, with the aim of bringing the proposed ban into force as soon as possible after the Bill has been passed.
	The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has a duty to publish a document setting out the criteria for an SIA licence, under section 7 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. The SIA's ‘Get Licensed’ booklet fulfils this duty, in conjunction with the SIA website, which contains guidance on the regulation of the activities of private wheel clampers. The Get Licensed booklet can be viewed at:
	http://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Documents/licensing/sia_get_licensed.pdf
	and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Police and Crime Commissioners: Elections

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the alternative vote (AV) system is to be used in elections for Police and Crime Commissioners; which Ministers suggested use of this method; on what date the decision was taken to use AV for these elections; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: As set out in Section 57 of The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, the Supplementary vote will be used for Police and Crime Commissioner (PCCs) elections and not the alternative vote. This is currently the system used for the direct election of mayors, the closest existing role to PCCs; the Mayor of London already has responsibility for policing in London and is elected on this basis.

Police: Olympic Games 2012

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many suspicious packages were successfully smuggled into the Olympic Park during the trials which took place in 2011.

James Brokenshire: There is a comprehensive testing and exercising regime in place for security at the Olympic Park and Village and this will continue over the coming months. However, details of security planning for the Games, including specific tests and their results, are operationally sensitive in nature and, if released into the public domain, could compromise the security of the Games.

Reports

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reports her Department has commissioned but not published since May 2010; and what the title is of each such report.

Damian Green: The Home Office seeks to publish research and statistics reports when they are complete, in line with the Government’s commitments to transparency in government. National Statistics are produced and released in accordance with our obligations in the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007, and the associated code of practice for Official Statistics. This is under the management of a chief statistician, who reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional matters.
	Social research reports are published in line with the Government Social Research Unit publication protocol except:
	(i) in the case where the Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser decides not to publish in a Home Office series, on the grounds of inadequate scientific quality following peer review;
	(ii) on security grounds, where an unclassified summary document may be published with a classified version available where it is appropriate to do so; or
	(iii) for operational reasons where, in some cases, the Department may decide to publish only a summary of research and allow the more detailed research to be made available separately by, for instance, allowing the contractors to publish.
	The seven research reports listed in the following table were commissioned between May 2010 and 19 January 2012, but have not been published by the Home Office. The list does not include some reports commissioned in 2010 for reasons of national security, or reports for which the relevant research has not yet been completed. The table also includes details of the stage of the publication process which the unpublished reports have reached.
	
		
			 Table 1: Reports completed but not yet published 
			 Report title Notes 
			 Diverting young people from the criminal justice system Intended for publication: in peer review 
			 Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Co-ordinators: their role and contribution Intended for publication: in peer review 
			 Public attitudes to youth crime and anti-social behaviour Intended for publication: in peer review 
			 Demand for discrimination advice Arranging for publication 
			 101 single non-emergency number—learning the lessons from initial roll-out Intended for publication: in peer review 
			 A qualitative study into the use of Financial Investigation in tackling organised crime Intended for publication: in peer review 
			 Increasing the voluntary and community sector’s involvement in integrated offender management Arranging for publication

Speed Limits: Cameras

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many models of mobile speed camera have been given type approval by her Department for use by police forces; how many of these can be used accurately to detect speed from inside a police vehicle when used through glass such as a windscreen; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: On the widest interpretation of “mobile”, there are 43 devices that have been type approved. All can be used through glass and none of the type approvals includes a condition prohibiting such use. Type approval provides a guarantee that a device is accurate, precise, consistent and reliable.

Theft: Metals

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has any plans to introduce (a) a nationwide requirement for scrap metal dealers to demand identification from those from whom they purchase scrap metal and (b) a requirement for scrap metal dealers to install close-circuit television on their premises.

James Brokenshire: The Government are currently considering a range of legislative options to deal with the growing problem of metal theft, including a more robust licensing regime for scrap metal dealers which will include their operating standards. We will announce our proposals shortly.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Food: Waste

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2010, Official Report, column 51W, on Commons food waste, what estimate the Commission has made of the monetary value of food waste generated by House of Commons food outlets in each month since April 2010; what the outcome was of its review in 2009-10 of potential waste disposal schemes; and by what means food waste is currently redistributed or disposed of.

John Thurso: In the eight-month period from April 2010 until November 2010 the cumulative cost of food waste recorded was estimated at £56,996. No record is available month-by-month for this period and no record is available of the monthly or cumulative cost for the period from December 2010 until March 2011.
	Since April 2011, the estimated cost of food waste in each month has been as follows:
	
		
			 Month Estimated cost of food waste (£) 
			 April 2011 4,240 
			 May 2011 4,767 
			 June 2011 6,410 
			 July 2011 3,258 
			 August 2011 3,459 
			 September 2011 4,811 
			 October 2011 3,652 
			 November 2011 5,970 
			 December 2011 7,020 
			 Total April to December 2011 43,586 
		
	
	In compiling the information to answer this question, it has become clear that wastage has not been consistently recorded in all areas and the above figures are likely to be understated. It is likely that the answer given on 19 July 2010, Official Report, column 51W, for the cost of food waste from April 2009 to March 2010 is similarly incorrect. We cannot compile wastage information retrospectively but we are taking action to capture and report this information correctly from the start of the next financial year in April 2012.
	The review in 2009-10 of potential waste disposal schemes identified a preferred option of food waste composting. Food waste composting forms part of the new waste management contract, which commenced in November 2011. A food waste composting pilot for the Terrace Kitchen is due to start before the end of the 2011-12 financial year. Thereafter the scheme will be extended to the rest of the Estate.
	Currently food waste is diverted from landfill and is sent to a local energy from waste facility.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Bill of Rights

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 19 October 2011, Official Report, column 983W, on the Bill of Rights, what progress has been made on introducing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland since 19 October 2011.

Hugo Swire: Ministers and officials continue to meet human rights groups in Northern Ireland to discuss this issue. Our position remains that we want to see progress on the basis of consensus within Northern Ireland.
	In my answer of 19 October 2011, Official Report, column 983W, I stated that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), had written to NI party leaders, including the hon. lady, suggesting that work on this issue might be taken forward by the Assembly. We await responses to his suggestion.

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: In 2011, my Department spent a total of £169.97 to purchase three Christmas trees. There was no other expenditure on Christmas decorations.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was paid to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in (a) bonuses, (b) allowances and (c) other payments additional to basic salary in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what categories of payment may be made to officials in addition to basic salary; what the monetary value is of each category of payment; and what the monetary value was of the 20 largest such payments made in each of the last two years.

Owen Paterson: Comparable figures for my Department as it is now configured are not available for the years preceding the completion of devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010. For 2010-11, the last complete financial year for which figures are available, the amounts paid by my Department and its non-departmental public bodies for: (a) non-consolidated performance payments; (b) allowances; and (c) other payments are as follows:
	(a) Non-consolidated performance payments—a total of £22,200 was paid to members of the Home civil service (HCS) working in my Department in line with Ministry of Justice guidelines;
	(b) Allowances—35 members of staff on secondment to my Department from the Department of Justice (NI) are paid £287 per annum by way of a revised environmental allowance (REA). A small number of staff who are in posts which require them to undertake ‘on-call’ duties may make a claim for an ‘on-call’ allowance of £20 per weekday and £35 per weekend day;
	(c) Other payments—these included reward and recognition payments. During 2010-11, my Department paid a total of 39 such payments totalling £13,650. The 20 largest payments were: £750 x four; £500 x eight; £350 x four; and £300 x four.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps his Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the big society initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: I am the Government Minister with responsibility for advocating the principles of the big society in Northern Ireland.
	The big society agenda has been an item for discussion at meetings I have held with the right hon. Peter Robinson MLA, First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster MLA, Northern Ireland Minister for Enterprise trade and Investment and Nelson McCausland MLA, Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development. I hosted the first Big Society seminar in the UK which was attended by over 60 individuals representing the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, and I led a debate on the principles of the big society in the Northern Ireland Grand Committee.
	I have engaged with Business in the Community on ideas for a big society venture, delivered a keynote speech on the big society to the UK Preservations Trusts annual conference in Belfast and am actively exploring the possibility of bringing a National Citizen Service pilot to Northern Ireland. I am happy to lend my support to many of the exciting big society initiatives that are taking place on the ground in Northern Ireland.
	Many of the policy levers that extend the Big Society agenda in Northern Ireland are devolved and I am holding a series of meetings with Northern Ireland Ministers over the coming months in which I shall explore with them areas in which we can work together to promote this initiative.

SCOTLAND

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office spent £59.99 on the purchase of a Christmas tree for its London headquarters. No costs were incurred on other Christmas decorations.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not categorise staff as back office or frontline; an organisational breakdown of staff is available through the Office's website at the following link:
	http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/scotlandoffice/14464.html

Poverty: Children

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with (a) Ministers in the Scottish Government and (b) ministerial colleagues on measures to reduce levels of child poverty in Scotland.

David Mundell: The Secretary of State for Scotland, the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore), and I are in contact with Ministers in the Scottish Government and Ministers in the UK Government on a range of issues which are relevant to reducing levels of child poverty in Scotland, as are our officials.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps his Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the big society initiative; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Secretary of State for Scotland, the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore) and I, and our officials, are in contact with social enterprises, charities, voluntary organisations and local authorities in Scotland to discuss the big society.
	I have hosted several roundtables across Scotland to discuss with local organisations what the big society means for them.

WALES

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if she will make a statement.

David Jones: The Wales Office purchased one Christmas tree in 2011 for £90 and decorations were purchased to the value of £12.43 to enable children from the charity Dreams and Wishes to decorate the tree in Gwydyr house.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in her Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if she will make a statement.

David Jones: We do not have any staff who we consider to be frontline. The number of corporate staff as at 31 December 2011 was 13. This equates to around one in five staff.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps her Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the big society initiative; and if she will make a statement.

David Jones: The Wales Office does not lead on the implementation of any big society policies. However, the Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), and I are committed to ensuring that the positive effect of the big society is felt in Wales. The Wales Office hosted a seminar in Newport last September to discuss big society implementation in Wales. Further, I now chair a quarterly Wales Office big society advisory forum to discuss big society issues, with the first meeting having taken place on 16 January; the next meeting is due in mid-April.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Origin

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department paid Atos Origin to carry out medical assessments on behalf of his Department in the last year for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: For the period April 2010 to March 2011 the total cost paid to Atos Healthcare by the DWP to carry out medical assessments amounted to £112.8 million.
	These figures cover the total cost of running the medical services contract for the last financial year. This includes not only the total numbers of medical assessments undertaken by Atos Healthcare but also costs relating to written and verbal medical advice, fixed overheads, administrative costs, investment in new technology, other service improvements and salaries and fees paid to Healthcare Professionals directly by Atos Healthcare.
	In addition an element of the above costs is attributable to Telereal Trillium for accommodation necessary for the running of the medical services contract.

Atos Origin

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of medical assessments carried out by Atos Origin on behalf of his Department in each of the last three years.

Chris Grayling: For the period April 2008 to March 2009 the total cost DWP paid to Atos Healthcare to carry out medical assessments amounted to £111.8 million.
	April 2009 to March 2010 total cost was £99.1 million.
	April 2010 to March 2011 the total cost was £112.8 million.
	These figures cover the total cost of running the medical services contract for the last three financial years. This includes not only the total numbers of medical assessments undertaken by Atos Healthcare but also costs relating to written and verbal medical advice, fixed overheads, administrative costs, investment in new technology, other service improvements and salaries and fees paid to Healthcare Professionals directly by Atos Healthcare.
	In addition an element of the above costs is attributable to Telereal Trillium for accommodation necessary for the running of the medical services contract.

Atos Origin

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average salary was of (a) nurses and (b) doctors employed at Atos Origin medical examination centres in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The salary of nurses and doctors employed at Atos Healthcare is a matter between Atos Healthcare and the individual.
	This information is commercial in confidence and cannot be released as release of the information would prejudice the interests of Atos Healthcare and the Department's future dealings with Atos Healthcare or other service providers.

Atos Origin

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many doctors were employed at Atos Origin medical examination centres in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: Atos Healthcare holds a medical skills database which indicates that 649 doctors are currently engaged by Atos Healthcare (as at 17 January 2012) who are trained to carry out either DLA, ESA, IIDB or VA examinations, either in a Medical Examination Centre or in the claimant's home.
	649 is a figure which includes employed and contracted doctors.

Autism Act 2009

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the Autism Act 2009, what training is provided by (a) his Department, (b) Jobcentre Plus and (c) other agencies for staff working with people with autistic spectrum disorders.

Maria Miller: A wide variety of training is provided by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and former agencies (Jobcentre Plus and Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS)) and also by Atos staff working with people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD).
	I will cover (a) and (b) together as DWP now includes the former agencies Jobcentre Plus and Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS). DWP's policy is to develop its staff in the skills required to support a range of customers and claimants, to respect their individual needs, including those related to their health conditions.
	All staff have access to the “Raising the Game on Disability” seminar, which is focused on building disability knowledge and staff confidence in working with disabled people, including those with ASD.
	A number of staff in DWP, including PDCS visiting officers, disability living allowance and attendance allowance decision makers undertake training specifically covering ASD, and how this affects individuals.
	Jobcentre Plus personal advisers, in particular, have access to a comprehensive learning programme. The training focuses on raising awareness of the individual's personal circumstances, and also recognises that disabilities and health conditions can affect individuals in different ways.
	Disability employment advisers receive additional learning appropriate to this specialist area. Their training has been designed in conjunction with specialist DWP occupational psychologists to enable advisers to provide effective support to people with particular complex needs.
	All staff have access to the Hidden Impairment Toolkit, which provides practical advice and guidance on how best to support individuals, including those with ASD, into employment. This approach enables the anticipation of reasonable adjustments at appropriate stages of the individual's journey to work.
	(c) Atos Healthcare carry out work capability assessments (WCAs) for DWP.
	As part of their induction training, all healthcare professionals working for Atos are issued with an evidence based protocol that includes information on Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD).
	ASDs are specifically covered in new entrant training for healthcare professionals who carry out WCA assessments.
	All healthcare professionals are required to engage in a programme of continuing medical education. Atos, in conjunction with DWP, have developed a number of training modules for ASDs to support this programme. These include a “learning set” on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Asperger’s syndrome for employed healthcare professionals and a distance learning module with accompanying DVD on Asperger’s syndrome for sessional doctors.
	Atos are currently developing a training product called "Learning Disability and Autistic Spectrum Disorders awareness" which is due to be issued by the end of 2012.

Bank of Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions his Department has had with the Bank of Scotland on the printing of customers' national insurance numbers on bank statements; and what the outcome was of those discussions.

Chris Grayling: There have been no recent discussions with the banking industry on the printing of customers' national insurance numbers on bank statements.
	National insurance numbers are included in the information DWP provides to the banks as a payment reference so that payments can be accurately traced and customer inquiries dealt with effectively. The Department is aware that most banks use the information in the format provided to them by DWP, but ultimately the printing of the national insurance number on the customer's bank statement is the responsibility of the bank and at their discretion.

Council Tax Benefits

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total sum paid out in council tax benefit was to (a) pensioners and (b) adults of working age in each local authority in England in 2010-11.

Steve Webb: The information has been placed in the Library.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department is currently engaged in a transformation of its Corporate Centre and Operational functions.
	The planned staffing position for 31 March 2012 has been used to provide an estimate of the numbers and proportions of staff who are engaged in delivering frontline and corporate or back office services. These plans should be relatively stable but are subject to review.
	On this basis it is estimated the Department will have around 78,500 (88%) full-time equivalent staff engaged in delivering frontline services and around 10,400 (12%) engaged in delivering corporate and back office services.
	In addition the Department hosts a shared services function of around 1,350 which provides payroll and employee services to multiple Departments.
	The Department categorises 'front-line' staff as operational staff serving external customers and other staff directly supporting these functions.

Disability Living Allowance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people with (a) Parkinson's disease and (b) multiple sclerosis declared fit for work appealed against that decision in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: Of all employment and support allowance (ESA) claims starting between October 2008 and August 2010, 150 claimants whose main health condition is recorded as Parkinson's disease were assessed to be fit for work and subsequently appealed this decision. The equivalent figure for multiple sclerosis claims is 450.
	While data on fit for work decisions is available for claims that started between October 2008 and February 2011, appeals data is only available for claims starting between October 2008 and August 2010. Due to the time taken to submit, administer and hear appeals it is likely there are appeals currently in progress, so the figures provided may change when newer data becomes available.
	The Department regularly publishes data on ESA and the work capability assessment, which can be found on the departmental website here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
	This information is taken from administrative data held by the Department, assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare and appeals data from Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.
	All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Employment and Support Allowance: Cancer

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will allow people who are receiving oral and non-oral chemotherapy to receive employment and support allowance without undergoing an assessment; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: As part of his second independent review of the WCA Professor Malcolm Harrington asked Macmillan Cancer Support (Macmillan) to look in detail at how the WCA assesses people with cancer and to provide him with recommendations for further improvements.
	Macmillan provided compelling evidence that the current provision for individuals undergoing cancer treatment should be changed, they also suggested that all individuals receiving oral chemotherapy and certain types of radiotherapy are placed in the support group.
	The Department accepted there is a need for change. However, we know that cancer and cancer treatment can affect individuals differently. The Macmillan evidence shows this. And it shows some people want to work during treatment and are capable of doing so.
	The Department has brought forward proposals based on this evidence which would increase the number of people provided with unconditional support (an expected movement of around 10% from the work-related activity group to the support group) and reduce the number of face-to-face assessments.
	We are now consulting on our proposals, particularly seeking the wider views of specialists and cancer sufferers themselves. The consultation lasts until 9 March 2012.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will consider permitting Work programme clients with specified needs to choose their provider with assistance from their Jobcentre Plus adviser instead of being referred through the lottery.

Chris Grayling: The Work programme has been designed to help people with a wide variety of needs. Individuals are randomly allocated to Work providers to ensure that each provider has an equal share of participants, and provide a firm basis for drawing relative performance judgments. Better performing providers will have more claimants allocated to them. For this reason, it is not possible for claimants to pick their Work programme provider or move to another, after commencing the Work programme.

Employment Schemes

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Work Clubs in (a) Walsall South constituency, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK.

Chris Grayling: The Government continues to support the creation and development of Work Clubs that offer local people the support they need, tailored to the local economy. Work Clubs build on the foundations of the existing network of community-based support for unemployed people. The Department does not systematically collect data on Work Club performance.
	There is an online service for Work Club organisers, established by the Second Church Estates Commissioner, my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), which offers opportunities to share best practice and supports the creation, development and improved delivery of this locally-led initiative.

Employment Schemes: Voluntary Organisations

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on voluntary sector providers' ability to contract in the Work programme of the administrative requirements involved; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department assessed all tenders for the Work programme against the published evaluation criteria, based both on quality and financial aspects of the tenders.
	The Employment Related Support Services Framework, from which the mini competition for Work programme contracts was run, is a more efficient and responsive tool with the potential to create administrative savings. It has simplified and significantly reduced the time and cost involved for delivery partners, for example by cutting out the duplication of effort created by participation in a profusion of separate procurement competitions.
	A full independent evaluation has been commissioned to conclude in 2014.

Employment Schemes: West Midlands

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Work programme job outcomes resulted from placement on apprenticeships in the West Midlands in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority and official statistics on Work programme job outcomes will be released from autumn 2012. The exact details of what we will publish has still to be decided as it is dependant on the availability and quality of the data.

Employment: Barking and Dagenham

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people aged 18 to 24 in Barking and Dagenham were placed in employment by Jobcentre Plus in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009 and (e) 2010.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available.

Jobcentre Plus: Training

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) Jobcentre Plus staff and (b) other staff in his Department with public facing roles have completed ASIST training in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department is able to provide the following information in the table.
	
		
			 Number of Jobcentre Plus senior work psychologists and work psychologists who have completed ASIST training in the years 2009 - 11 
			  Number of senior work psychologists and work psychologists (actual) 
			 2009 16 
			 2010 19 
			 2011 14 
			 Source: Accredited Jobcentre Plus ASIST Trainer

Pensioners: Council Tax Benefits

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of all adults potentially eligible for council tax benefit are pensioners in each local authority in England.

Steve Webb: Estimates of the population entitled to council tax benefit are not available at a local authority level due to insufficient sample size. Estimates are available for Great Britain from the Income-related Benefits Estimates of Take-up report. The report produces estimates of take-up of council tax benefit by family type. The latest figures cover the period 2008-09.
	The report brings together information from DWP/local authority benefit records and the Family Resources Survey to provide estimates of take-up among the private household population in Great Britain. Take-up estimates are presented as robust ranges of the population who are entitled to but do not take-up council tax benefit. These ranges account for possible biases that arise in estimating take-up from the available data sources. These ranges also account for the effects of sampling variation (otherwise known as sampling error).
	As the full entitled population of council tax benefit consists of both the entitled recipients (those entitled to and receiving the benefit), and the estimates of entitled non-recipients (those entitled to but not receiving the benefit), the number and proportion of this population who are pensioners is presented as a range in which it is assumed the true value lies.
	As such, the number of pensioners who were entitled to council tax benefit in Great Britain, 2008-09, was between 3,950,000 and 4,490,000 (rounded to the nearest 10,000) which is equivalent to between 50% and 63% of the entire population entitled to council tax benefit.
	For context, the take-up rates of pensioners in 2008-09 were lower than non-pensioners for council tax benefit: pensioners had a take-up rate of between 56% and 64% while non-pensioners had a take-up rate of between 72% and 81%. The full take-up report can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=irb

Pensioners: Low Incomes

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people who have a private pension and live in the poorest five per cent. of households; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The figures for the number of working-age adults who have made some private pension provision and live in the poorest 5% of households are not available. Any such statistics would be based on households below average income (HBAI) data sourced from the 2009-10 Family Resources Survey (FRS). We do not consider the data for households with the very lowest reported incomes to be accurate as an indicator of living standards. Many of these households, while reporting very low incomes appear to have high spending and would not have low living standards, although they genuinely have few sources of income in the short-run.
	There are a variety of reasons for reporting very low incomes. First, very fragmented incomes may be under-recorded. Secondly, some households will have transitional periods of low income when they are between possibly well paid jobs at the precise time of the survey interview, or they are self-employed and their incomes can vary greatly from year to year. Thirdly, some households may draw on savings to cope with a longer period of minimal income. Finally, some households genuinely have to cope on very low incomes, and may get into debt to maintain levels of expenditure.
	We have therefore provided the information requested for working-age adults in the bottom equivalised household income quintile, that is, with equivalised household incomes in the bottom 20% of the income distribution.
	In the United Kingdom in 2009-10, before housing costs, we estimate that there were approximately 700,000 working-age adults (around 11% of all working age adults) with private pension provision in the bottom income quintile. Overall, according to this source, 37% of working-age adults had some pension provision in the United Kingdom in 2009-10.
	The Government want to encourage people to save for their retirement and are introducing automatic enrolment into workplace pensions. Starting from 2012 all employers beginning with the largest will be required to enrol all workers eligible for automatic enrolment into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and make a minimum contribution. We expect this to lead to 5 million to 8 million people newly saving or saving more, generating £9 billion a year more in pension saving.
	Notes:
	1. These statistics are based on households below average income (HBAI) data sourced from the 2009-10 Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.
	2. Quintiles are income values which divide the population, when ranked by income, into five equal-sized groups. The lowest quintile describes individuals with incomes in the bottom 20% of the income distribution.
	3. Adults have been classified as being of working age if they are 64 or below for men or 59 or below for women.
	4. While the statistics cover individuals who are of working age, not all individuals will be working.
	5. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost and an after housing cost basis. For before housing costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are.
	6. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.
	7. The reference period for HBAI figures is the financial year.
	8. Numbers of working-age adults have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.
	9. Proportions of working-age adults in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.

Personal Independence Payment: Mental Illness

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has carried out an impact assessment on the effects of introducing the personal independence payment on people with mental health disorders; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: We are fully committed to enabling disabled people to have the same opportunities and choices as non-disabled people. The Government have tried to make fair choices and to protect those who are most in need. Throughout the development of Personal Independence Payment the Government have looked closely at the impact of decisions on different groups, including people with mental health disorders.
	The Impact Assessment for DLA reform was last updated on 10 October 2011 and can be found at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dla-reform-wr2011-ia.pdf
	It will be updated following Royal Assent.
	We are still developing the assessment and published details on the entitlement thresholds and revised assessment criteria on 16 January and started a formal 15 week consultation. As more detailed design is completed further estimates of the impact of the assessment on people receiving personal independence payment will be made. Our view is that personal independence payment will take greater account of mental, intellectual, cognitive and sensory impairments than DLA.

Social Security Benefits

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people from (a) EU member states other than the UK and (b) non-EU countries signed on at Jobcentre Plus between (i) January and June 2011 and (ii) July and September 2011; and what proportion this represents of the total number of people signing on.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available. The UK's benefit payment systems do not currently record the nationality of claimants as nationality itself is not a condition of entitlement. Therefore, it is not possible to determine the number of non-UK nationals claiming benefit at Jobcentre Plus.
	DWP has recently published statistics on the nationality of benefit claimants at the point of registration for a national insurance number. These indicate that at February 2011, 371,000 (6.4%) of DWP working age benefits claimants were non-UK nationals when they registered for their national insurance number. Of these, 25% were EU nationals, and 75% were non-EU nationals.
	Further information, including breakdowns of these figures by benefit claimed, can be found in the full statistics release “Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP benefit claimants” at
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2012/jan-2012/dwp005-12.shtml

Social Security Benefits

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to establish a closer link between the receipt of benefits and training for work.

Chris Grayling: Further to my answer of 13 July 2011, skills conditionality was introduced in England from 1 August.

Social Security Benefits: Carlisle

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what costs were incurred by his Department in respect of (a) benefits and (b) administration in Carlisle constituency in the latest financial year for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows:
	(a) Benefit expenditure for Carlisle for 2010-11 is shown in the following table, where estimates are available.
	
		
			 Carlisle constituency benefit expenditure, 2010-11 
			  £ million 
			 Attendance Allowance 9.7 
			 Bereavement Benefit/Widow’s Benefit 0.9 
			 Carer’s Allowance 2.2 
			 Disability Living Allowance 19.5 
			 Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance 11.1 
		
	
	
		
			 Income Support 11.0 
			 Jobseeker’s Allowance 5.4 
			 Pension Credit 10.1 
			 State Pension 102.7 
			 Winter Fuel Payments 4.2 
			 Employment and Support Allowance 4.0 
			 Total 180.8 
			 Note: Figures rounded to nearest 100,000. Source: DWP Statistical and Accounting Data 
		
	
	(b) The cost of administering benefits for Carlisle residents is not available.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the big society initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: DWP continues to support the principle of enabling people to come together to improve their own lives.
	To maximise our support for a big society approach DWP has implemented more freedoms for jobcentres to move away from a one-size fits-all approach and towards a more flexible business model which is tailored to meet the community that it serves. Jobcentre Plus, in partnership with colleges, training providers and employers, has a key role to play in influencing the provision offered locally to best meet the needs of local employers and people on benefits.
	A series of specific measures are being currently delivered, for benefit claimants, which reflect this approach. This includes Enterprise Clubs which help people make the most of local knowledge and resources to support unemployed people who are interested in self employment; local Work Clubs to enable individuals to take responsibility for planning their own journey back into work; and Work Together which helps claimants develop work skills through volunteering, with opportunities provided by local charities and voluntary organisations. The availability of these measures varies across the country according to local circumstances and needs.
	Further support to local communities is provided through the design of our national Work programme. This encourages providers to build support with voluntary and other local organisations to ensure that it meets the needs of the individual and local communities.
	In parallel the Department's support to the private sector's commitment to big society remains strong. For example, we work closely with the National Apprenticeship Service on our engagement with national employers and the opportunities for all young people including graduate schemes.

Universal Credit

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of local authority housing benefit staff who will be required to assist in the delivery of universal credit.

Chris Grayling: Universal credit will be delivered by a single entity which will be drawn from the best operational units of Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs and will draw upon local authority expertise. Local authorities will continue to be responsible for the new form of council tax rebate and other essential services, such as housing and social care.
	The universal credit programme team are currently engaging with the Local Government Association and the local authorities associations to develop proposals for how local authorities will fit into the delivery model for universal credit. We have also formed a Transition Working Group made up of representatives from local authorities to advise the programme of the impacts of introducing universal credit on them. We are also undertaking an extensive programme of day long visits to individual authorities to hear about current practice, gather views and suggestions and discuss the future role of local authorities under universal credit.
	In the short-term, local authority benefit staff will play a crucial role in implementing these reforms, as housing benefit is such a key element of the system. It is also expected that local authorities will continue to have an important role in delivery of welfare benefits services including new responsibilities such as the discretionary elements of a reformed Social Fund.
	In the longer-term, we will need to reflect on the implementation period before making decisions on the final delivery model for universal credit and ultimately local authorities' role within it. We appreciate that this creates uncertainty for local authorities, but it is important that we press ahead, because this is the only way to make the system simpler and fairer for the people we all want to help. We are involving local authority staff in a series of workshops looking at the options for the delivery model, both for 2013 and beyond.
	The detail of these reforms is still being worked out, so we cannot say yet exactly how they will impact on local authority Housing Benefit staff, but we will rely on local authorities' expertise and frontline knowledge to make these reforms work.

Universal Credit

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for the eligibility rules for free school meals following introduction of universal credit; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: Defining entitlement to certain passported benefits is the responsibility of other Government Departments and devolved Administrations.
	The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been commissioned to carry out an independent review on passported benefits on behalf of the Government. This review is nearing completion and the Committee has been asked to report by the end of January 2012. The Department will publish the final report alongside its response by the end of April.
	Free school meals are the responsibility of the Department for Education, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland. In England, the Department for Education is already considering the options for new eligibility criteria and working with a number of stakeholders. Department of Education Ministers will consult on free school meal eligibility proposals in 2012, ahead of the introduction of universal credit from October 2013.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his intention to start to take new claims for universal credit from October 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The universal credit migration approach published on 1 November set out how DWP will start to take new claims to universal credit from October 2013 and that new claims to the current benefits and credits will gradually be phased out. Work continues with HMRC and local authorities to understand the precise detail of how this will work, but this approach will ensure that universal credit is phased in safely from October 2013, minimising the risk to claimants. Even once agreed, the DWP will keep the approach under regular review as it recognises that this needs to be flexible enough the respond to national and local circumstances as they change in the years before the migration to universal credit is concluded in 2017.

Work Capability Assessments

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to page 19 of the Government's response to Professor Malcolm Harrington's Second Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment, what the percentage turnover of Atos-approved healthcare professionals was in each region in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010 and (d) 2011.

Chris Grayling: The percentage turnover of Atos-approved health care professionals was in
	(a) 2008—Data not held for this period
	(b) 2009—Data not held for this period
	(c) 2010 and (d) 2011
	For both of the above years the data are held however the information is commercial in confidence. It cannot be released as release of the information would prejudice the interests of Atos Healthcare and the Department's future dealings with Atos Healthcare or other service providers.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employer contracts his Department has made in relation to the Work programme since its inception.

Chris Grayling: DWP do not have contracts with employers in relation to the Work programme.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of full-time equivalent staff in the Law Officers' Departments engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Garnier: The following table contains details on the number and proportion of staff who were in post as at 31 December 2011, which each of the Law Officers' Departments defines as frontline or corporate/back office staff.
	
		
			 Law Officers’ Department: Staff in post (full-time equivalent) 
			  Frontline Corporate/back office 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 Treasury Solicitors Office 808 85 139 15 
			 Attorney-General's Office 32 86.5 5 13.5 
			 HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate 23 60 15.5 40 
			 Crown Prosecution Service 6,758 94.3 405 5.7 
			 Serious Fraud Office 246 81 55 19

TRANSPORT

A3: Hampshire

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answers of 12 July 2010, Official Report, column 467W, on A3, and 6 September 2010, Official Report, column 176W, on A3: Hampshire, what assessment she has made of (a) traffic levels and (b) noise on the A3 between Liphook and Petersfield (i) before and (ii) following the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel; what measurements of traffic levels have been made since the opening of the tunnel; and how the measurements compare to the pre-opening projection of traffic increase.

Michael Penning: As indicated in the answer given on 6 September 2010, Official Report, column 178W, the section of the A3 between Liphook and Petersfield is outside the area of scope for the A3 Hindhead project. Noise assessments were not made prior to scheme start because the increase in traffic flows are forecast to be less than 10%. Changes in traffic flows of less than 10% will generate noise increases of less than 1dB(A)—the limit to which change in traffic noise can be detected by the human ear.

Departmental Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding her Department allocated to sponsor apprenticeships in her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and how much such funding she plans to allocate in 2012-13.

Norman Baker: The amount of funding the Department allocated to sponsor apprenticeships is:
	(a) £28,592
	(b) £8,604
	The amount of funding the Department currently plans to allocate in 2012-13 is:
	(c) £18,000

Departmental Consultants

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2011, Official Report, columns 411-12W, on departmental consultants, how much (a) her Department and (b) franchised train operators have spent on each consultant or consultancy for the (i) Thameslink Programme, (ii) Thameslink Rolling Stock Procurement and (iii) Intercity Express Programme since the start of each programme; and how much her Department has budgeted for such consultancy in the remainder of the comprehensive spending review period;
	(2)  what expenditure her Department has incurred on (a) external consultants and (b) legal advice, including costs incurred by franchised train operators, in relation to the (i) Thameslink rolling stock and (ii) Intercity Express programmes.

Theresa Villiers: The information requested can be found in the following tables. I have since issued a ministerial correction to my answer of 23 November 2011, on 23 January 2012, Official Report, columns 1-4MC.
	
		
			 Thameslink Rolling Stock Project 
			 £ million 
			  Costs incurred to May 2010 Cost incurred June 2010 to September 2011 October 2011 to March 2012 forecast 
			 Arup 4.0 1.7 0.5 
			 Freshfields 6.6 1.9 1.3 
			 PWC 2.5 0.9 0.6 
			 Interfleet 1.5 0.1 0 
			 Booz 0.5 0.3 0.1 
			 Total 15.1 4.9 2.5 
		
	
	
		
			 Thameslink  Programme 
			 £ million 
			  Costs incurred to May 2010 Cost incurred June 2010 to September 2011 October 2011 to March 2012 forecast 
			 Atkins 0.5 0.1 0.1 
			 EC Harris 0.2 0.1 0.25 
			 SDG 0 0.1 0.03 
			 Nichols 1.4 0.3 0.04 
			 Bovis Lend Lease Consulting 0.7 0.4 0.09 
			 Eversheds 0.07 0.01 0 
			 Willis 0.036 0.004 0.01 
			 Total 2.906 1.014 0.52 
		
	
	
		
			 IEP Programme 
			 £ million 
			  Costs incurred to May 2010 Cost incurred June 2010 to September 2011 October 2011 to March 2012 forecast 
			 Barkers HR Advertising 0.016 0 0 
			 Capita Resourcing 0.4 0.008 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Clifford Chance 0.002 0 0 
			 Congress Centre 0.012 0 0 
			 Ernst and Young 0.2 0 0 
			 First Class Partnership 0.006 0 0 
			 Freshfields 5.6 1.0 1.1 
			 Jim Standen Associates 0.01 0 0 
			 Manpower 0 0.13 0.25 
			 Mott MacDonald 11.8 0.48 0.70 
			 MWB Business Exchange 0.002 0 0 
			 Nichols 3.1 0.09 0.02 
			 PWC 2.5 0.16 0.8 
			 QCs 0 0.01 0.01 
			 Reed Employment 0.06 0.03 0 
			 SDG 1.2 0.13 0 
			 Willis 0.01 0.005 0.009 
			 Total 24.91 2.04 2.88 
		
	
	Detailed spending plans for years beyond the financial year 2011-12 have not yet been agreed.
	Consultancy costs incurred by franchised train operators are a matter for themselves and not the Department.

Departmental Consultants

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2011, Official Report, columns 411-12W, on departmental consultants, how many hours of work Mott MacDonald have invoiced for consultancy on the Intercity Express Programme.

Theresa Villiers: Mott MacDonald has invoiced the Department for around 112,000 hours of consultancy work on the Intercity Express Programme since its inception in 2005-06.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in her Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: On 31 December 2011 there were 16,807 full-time equivalent staff working in the Department for Transport. Of these 12,673 were engaged in delivering frontline services. This represents 75% of the total. 4,134 were engaged in delivering corporate or back office services. This represents 25% of the total.
	In the central Department (DFTc) there were 1,655 full-time equivalent staff. Of these 327 were engaged in delivering frontline services, representing 20% of the total. 1,327 were engaged in delivering corporate or back office services and this represents 80% of the total.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has considered introducing any pilot programmes in advance of the proposed centralisation of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency services.

Michael Penning: holding answer 19 January 2012
	Decisions about centralisation have not yet been taken. If the proposals are taken forward following the outcome of the public consultation, the DVLA will then consider how best to implement the changes. This could include the use of pilot programmes.

Network Rail

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with Network Rail and station operators on delays to station improvement works.

Theresa Villiers: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), and officials meet with both Network Rail and train operators on a regular basis at which a range of issues are discussed. These can include progress on various station improvement works and, where applicable, the steps being taken by the delivery agent to address any programme delays.

Railways: Fares

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what proportion regulated rail fares will increase in the remaining years of the comprehensive spending review period.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 19 January 2012
	Details of planned changes to regulated rail fares are set out in the spending review.

Railways: Freight

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what proportion of the use of the Trans Pennine Line was used for haulage in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11;
	(2)  what proportion of the use of the West Coast Main Line was used for haulage in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Theresa Villiers: The Department does not hold this information. It is a matter for Network Rail.

Railways: Scotland

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the cost of new sleeper carriages for the Caledonian Sleeper service will fall beyond the comprehensive spending review period.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 19 January 2012
	The Caledonian Sleeper service is a devolved matter for Transport Scotland.

Southern: Rolling Stock

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost to the public purse will be of new carriages for the Southern rail network in each of the remaining years of the comprehensive spending review period.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 19 January 2012
	The cost to the public purse for the new carriages is forecast to be circa £89 million. In 2011-12 this is up to £84.5 million with the remainder spread over the spending review period.
	Southern Railway will be conducting a financing competition for the new trains which is expected to complete in financial year 2012-13.

TREASURY

National Insurance Contributions

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of jobs supported by the National Insurance Contributions holiday for new companies.

David Gauke: HMRC has received around 12,000 successful applications for the NICs holiday scheme (to 19 January 2012). In advance of year end returns, we estimate that 40,000 jobs have been supported in total.

Credit: Small Businesses

Guto Bebb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase the availability of credit to small businesses.

Mark Hoban: At the autumn statement, the Government announced the launch of the National Loan Guarantee Scheme that will lower the cost of loans for smaller businesses and the extension of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee to new lenders and a wider group of businesses. In addition, the Business Finance Partnership is making available an initial £1 billion to deliver additional finance to mid-sized companies through non-bank channels.

Credit: Small Businesses

Jessica Lee: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase the availability of credit to small businesses.

Mark Hoban: At the autumn statement, the Government announced the launch of the national loan guarantee scheme that will lower the cost of loans for smaller businesses and the extension of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee to new lenders and a wider group of businesses. In addition, the Business Finance Partnership is making available an initial £1 billion to deliver additional finance to mid-sized companies through non-bank channels.

Credit: Small Businesses

Rob Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase the availability of credit to small businesses.

Mark Hoban: At the autumn statement the Government announced the launch of the national loan guarantee scheme that will lower the cost of loans for smaller businesses and the extension of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee to new lenders and a wider group of businesses. In addition, the Business Finance Partnership is making available an initial £1 billion to deliver additional finance to mid-sized companies through non-bank channels.

Economic Growth

Denis MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal steps he plans to take to encourage growth; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: Sticking to the Government's fiscal consolidation plan is necessary to restore the public finances to sustainability and has helped to maintain low long-term interest rates.

Economic Growth

John Healey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the Office for Budget Responsibility's most recent forecast of levels of economic growth in 2012.

Chloe Smith: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for producing independent economic and fiscal forecasts. In the November Economic and fiscal outlook, the OBR forecast economic growth of 0.7% in 2012.

Taxation Changes (Families with Children)

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects on families with children of taxation changes coming into force in 2012-13.

David Gauke: This Government have taken unprecedented steps to increase the transparency of decision making, publishing detailed analysis of the impacts of individual measures in Tax Impact Notes, and presenting the overall impact of tax-benefit reforms at fiscal events.
	These show that all but the top decile gain from direct tax changes, and that the Government continues to help protect the most vulnerable.

Merlin Agreement

George Mudie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent progress he has made on the Merlin agreement on lending to small businesses.

Mark Hoban: In the first three quarters of last year, the Merlin banks lent £56 billion to SMEs—a 10% increase on lending this time last year. The Government have always been clear that they will use all of the tools available to ensure that the banks live up to their commitments on lending.

Biofuels: Crime

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to discourage the illegal production of biodiesel for commercial sale.

David Gauke: The Government are aware of several cases where producers have tried to avoid registering to pay biofuels duty. Suppliers are liable to account for the duty if they produce 2,500 litres or more and supply the oil for fuel production. Production under 2,500 litres per year is exempt from duty.
	Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ensure that the rules relating to this threshold are complied with through education, monitoring and targeted assurance activity. HMRC's activity resulted in the detection of 26 illicit biofuel plants in 2010-11.
	HMRC have developed an e-mail template to assist members of the public in reporting cases of concern, which is available online at:
	https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/AAG_TAI

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: The HM Treasury Christmas tree and decorations were paid for by a single donation in 2011, as cuts precluded one being purchased from the Treasury’s departmental budget.
	We are withholding the identity of the donor as they wish to remain anonymous. We consider that it would be unfair, under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act, to reveal the name of an individual who has requested anonymity.

Climate Change Levy

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of households that will be prevented from falling into fuel poverty as a result of the measures set out in his Department's Control framework for Department of Energy and Climate Change levy-funded spending.

Gregory Barker: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
	The Warm Home Discount scheme is managed within the levy control framework. Estimates of the impact of the scheme on fuel poverty were published within the impact assessment made on the scheme. The scheme will assist around two million low income and vulnerable households each year. The fuel poverty impacts are set out in Table 1 as follows. Estimates of fuel poverty impacts of other policies within the levy control framework are not available.
	
		
			 Table 1. Impact on fuel poverty of the Warm Home Discount scheme 
			 Metric 
			  2011 - 12 2012 - 13 2013 - 14 2014- 15 
			 Number of fuel poor households removed -161,000 -158,000 -169,000 -172,000 
			 Number of households shifted into fuel poverty 73,000 71,000 67,000 74,000 
			 Net impact on number of fuel poor households -88,000 -87,000 -102,000 -98,000

Community Development Tax Relief

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Community Development financial institutions are accredited under the Community Investment Tax Relief Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Currently there are 24 Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) accredited under Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR).
	The Government announced in Budget 2011 their intention to continue the scheme and to this end that they would renotify CITR to the European Commission and consult in advance of renotification on how the scheme can be made more effective.

Community Investment Tax Relief

Andrew Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to the Exchequer was of community investment tax relief in each year since it was introduced; what estimate he has made of such costs in each year to 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) on 24 October 2011, Official Report, column 19W.
	Further to this answer, the Treasury has made no estimate of the costs of CITR for future years.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: In line with the Government's wider transparency agenda the Treasury's organisation chart is published at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/hmt_orgchart.pdf
	This shows the number and structure of HM Treasury's full-time equivalent staff. In general, staff within the Corporate Centre group provide Treasury's corporate services, but some staff in this group also deliver frontline services and services to other Departments.

Devolution: Finance

Greg Knight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration his Department has given to revising the Barnett Formula; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: As set out in the Coalition programme for government, this Government's priority must be to reduce the deficit arid therefore any change to the Barnett Formula must await the stabilisation of the public finances.

Excise Duties: Gaming Machines

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the amusement industry on the effect of machine games duty on (a) the amusement sector and (b) seaside businesses.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Occupational Pensions

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the EU directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision on (a) economic growth and (b) business pension provision in the UK.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	Directive 2003/41/EC on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision has had no effect on economic growth or on the provision of occupational pensions.
	However, we would oppose any proposals to align pension fund capital rules with those in the Solvency II Directive, and have made it clear that any proposals must be supported by a detailed and robust assessment of their impact on growth and pension provision.

Taxation: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what his most recent estimate is of the total tax revenue from Northern Ireland in the latest year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the total revenue raised from Northern Ireland from (a) income tax at the basic rate, (b) income tax at the higher rate, (c) value added tax, (d) corporation tax and (e) national insurance in the latest year for which figures are available.

David Gauke: Estimates of the revenue raised from Northern Ireland are unavailable for some taxes, and therefore for tax revenues in total.
	No information is available at sub-UK level on revenue from value added tax.
	Based on Survey of Personal Incomes data, total income tax liabilities in Northern Ireland in 2007-08 are estimated at £3.08 billion (see Table 3.11 "Income and tax, by gender, region and country" available on the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/table-3-11-feb2010.pdf
	Within this total, it is estimated that tax liabilities due at the then starting, basic and higher rates of income tax were £0.17 billion, £2.03 billion and £0.88 billion respectively.
	With regard to corporation tax, I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 4.34 (page 26) of the consultation document “Rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy”, published by HM Treasury on 24 March 2011, in which estimates of the amount of corporation tax for Northern Ireland based companies have been published. The figures there exclude revenues due to the activity of Northern Ireland based branches of GB companies.
	A link to the full document is given here:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/rebalancing_the_northern_ireland_economy_consultation.pdf
	The total amount of national insurance contributions received from Northern Ireland in 2010-11 is estimated to be £2.1 billion.
	A link to the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund Account is given here:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/ni-fund-ac-ni-1011.pdf

Welfare Tax Credits: Telephone Services

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he has considered redeploying temporary HM Revenue and Customs staff to handle tax credit calls at the (a) Lillyhall, Cumbria and (b) Bathgate call centres;
	(2)  when he expects private sector companies to start work on tax credit calls at the HM Revenue and Customs call centres in Lillyhall, Cumbria and Bathgate .

David Gauke: HMRC regularly cross-train and redeploy very significant numbers of staff across their operations to help manage peaks in contact centre demand. HMRC envisage a continuing (and increasing) need for such flexibility in future.
	Additionally and in line with a recommendation from the Accountant and Comptroller General; HMRC are about to begin small scale, short term trial to test whether—and if so how—using additional capacity from the private sector during peak periods might work and what the costs and benefits might be. The trial teams are expected to start taking their first calls in early February.

CABINET OFFICE

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office did not incur any expenditure on either Christmas trees or decorations in 2011.

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cases of data loss or breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

Francis Maude: holding answer 19 January 2012
	During 2011, there were no instances of data loss or breaches of confidentiality which have required notification to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: As part of the commitment to making Government more transparent and accountable, Departments are required to publish structure charts every six months showing the numbers of staff within their structural groupings. Departmental structure charts can be found at:
	http://data.gov.uk/organogram

EU Law

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which EU regulations his Department has not implemented; on what date the regulations became EU law; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Information is not held in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Cabinet Office holds information only on regulations that it has implemented.

New Businesses

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many small businesses have commenced trading in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England in the last six months.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2012
	.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprise births within a calendar year are available from the ONS release on Business Demography at www.statistics.gov.uk. However, unfortunately these statistics are only available up to the calendar year 2010. The results for 2011 will be released on 6th December 2012.

Public Sector: Dismissal

David Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to simplify the process of removing poorly performing staff in the public sector; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: In the civil service, for which I have responsibility, work is being taken forward to address the management of poor performance.

DEFENCE

Air Force: Ammunition

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether WE.177 munitions have been stored at (a) RAF Kinloss, (b) RAF Lossiemouth, (c) RAF Leuchars and (d) RAF Machrihanish.

Peter Luff: Due to the length of time that WE.177 munitions have been out of service, a search of archived records is required. I will write to the hon. Member when this search is complete.
	Substantive answer from Peter Luff to Angus Robertson:
	I undertook to write to you on 10 January 2012 (Official Report, column 6W) in answer to your question about WE177 munitions.
	WE177 munitions were brought into service in 1966 and were in continual service with the RAF for 32 years before being withdrawn in March 1998. My officials have completed a search of archived records and I can confirm that WE177 munitions were never permanently stored at RAF Kinloss, RAF Leuchars or RAF Lossiemouth. Relevant records are no longer held for RAF Machrihanish although aircraft specified to deploy WE177 were not permanently based at that station and therefore it is highly unlikely that the munitions would ever have been stored there.

Aircraft Carriers

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment his Department has made of the suitability of the Joint Combat Aircraft to operate from aircraft carriers; what assessment has been made of the prospects of rectifying any design deficiencies in that aircraft for carrier operations; what contingency plans his Department is preparing in the event of the non-availability of Joint Combat Aircraft for the Future Aircraft Carriers; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: The UK's commitment to the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter to meet its Joint Combat Aircraft requirement was confirmed in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
	As a Level one partner in the Joint Strike Fighter development programme, the UK has constant access to data from the development and test programme. We are confident that the F-35C aircraft will be able to operate successfully from aircraft carriers and that any design deficiencies discovered during development will be resolved.

Aircraft Carriers

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he estimates that the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be transferred from the manufacturers to the Royal Navy.

Peter Luff: holding answer 20 January 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 January 2012, Official Report, column 421W.

Aircraft Carriers

Richard Drax: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the top speed will be of the aircraft carriers currently being manufactured for his Department; what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the speed of such aircraft carriers for F35 striker jets taking off in still conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: holding answer 23 January 2012
	The Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier will be capable of a top speed in excess of 25 knots, which is considered more than sufficient to be able to launch the F-35C and other fixed-wing aircraft regardless of wind speed conditions.

Aircraft Carriers

Richard Drax: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the F35 Joint Strike Fighter Concurrency Quick Look Review has concluded that the arrestor hook used to stop the F35 overshooting a carrier's landing deck once it has touched down is too close to the plane's wheels.

Peter Luff: holding answer 23 January 2012
	The joint strike fighter quick look review commissioned by the US Department of Defence highlighted deficiencies in the F-35C arrestor hook that had already been identified during testing in 2011. Such discoveries are common during a development programme and work is well advanced to develop the required modifications to correct this deficiency.

Animals: Euthanasia

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2012, Official Report, columns 725-6W, on animals: euthanasia, what behaviour falls within the definition of temperament for the horses euthanised in 2011;
	(2)  what procedure his Department follows for disposal of euthanised (a) horses and (b) dogs;
	(3)  what his Department's policy is on disposing of (a) horses and (b) dogs that have come to the end of their working life.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 24 January 2012
	The Ministry of Defence's policy is to re-home all military working dogs and horses at the end of their service life wherever practicable.
	Regrettably, however, there are occasions when military working animals have to be put down humanely. This action is only ever taken as a last resort, where it is judged to be unsafe to re-home the animal because of the risk it poses to the public, or where veterinary reasons indicate that re-homing it would conflict with the animal's welfare.
	Horses are put down humanely for temperamental reasons when their behaviour is judged, by a panel comprising equitation instructors and veterinary officers, to be consistently dangerous to the rider and/or public and with no reasonable prospect of remedying the dangerous behaviour with humane corrective training and re-homing is not possible.
	The bodies of deceased military working dogs and horses, that have been put down at the Defence Animal Centre, are disposed of via a contract with Nottingham University Veterinary School. Military working animals that are put down elsewhere are disposed of by local contract in compliance with local regulations.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of personnel in each armed service have been in breach of their harmony guidelines since March 2011; what assessment he has made of the effect of Operation Ellamy on the number of such people; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: It should be noted that Harmony is defined differently by each service, so direct comparisons can be misleading. Accordingly, the information requested is shown in the following three tables, along with each service's harmony definition. Where available, figures for 2010 have been included for comparison with Operation Ellamy dates (19 March to 31 October 2011).
	UK Regular Naval Service Separated Service
	Personnel on the trained strength are considered to be in breach of harmony guidelines on a particular date if they have spent more than 660 days away from home during the preceding 36-month period.
	
		
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of Harmony guidelines 
			  Percentage 
			 2010  
			 1 April 1.4 
			 1 July 1.1 
			 1 October 1.0 
			   
			 2011  
			 1 January 0.9 
			 1 April 0.8 
			 1 July 0.6% 
			 1 October 0.7% 
		
	
	UK Regular Army Separated Service
	Personnel on the trained strength are considered to be in breach of harmony in the final month of the specified reporting period if they have spent more than 415days in a 30-month period.
	
		
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of Harmony guidelines 
			  Percentage 
			 2010  
			 1 April 5.6 
			 1 July 5.4 
			 1 October 5.4 
			 2011  
			 1 January 5.0 
			 1 April 5.2 
			 1 July 5.0 
			 1 October 5.2 
		
	
	UK Regular Royal Air Force Separated Service
	Personnel on the trained strength are considered to have breached harmony guidelines if they have spent more than 280 days away from home in a 24-month period.
	
		
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of Harmony guidelines 
			  Percentage 
			 2010  
			 1 April 3.0 
			 1 July 2.8 
		
	
	
		
			 1 October 2.7 
			 2011  
			 1 January 2.6 
			 1 April 2.7 
			 1 July 2.8 
			 1 October 3.0 
		
	
	The armed forces contribution to Operation Ellamy did not place such a burden on our manpower that individual harmony breaches were widespread. Unfortunately at a time of high operational commitment, breaches of harmony guidelines do occur but initiatives and regulators are used to help ameliorate the situation. These include flexible appointing between ranks, mobilisation of Reservists, use of contractors, and regular review of the numbers of posts required for each operation.

Armed Forces: Dogs

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many dogs owned by his Department were working in the Falkland Islands in the most recent period for which figures are available; how many were euthanized in 2011; and for what reasons.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 23 January 2012
	During 2011, there were 13 military working dogs and one mascot dog employed by the Ministry of Defence based in the Falkland Islands. During the same period three military working dogs were euthanized for veterinary medical reasons although the exact reasons are unknown.
	Decisions to euthanise dogs are only taken as a last resort and in reaching these decisions both the welfare of the dog and public safety are carefully considered.

Armed Forces: Education

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future of the maximum annual contribution made to service personnel towards learning activities through (a) the Standard Learning Credits scheme and (b) the Advanced Learning Credits scheme.

Andrew Robathan: The Standard Learning Credits scheme is valued at £175 per year. The Enhanced Learning Credits scheme offers three separate payments of £1,000 or £2,000 per year (depending on length of service accumulated) for a maximum of three years. As an incentive to complete a course of study, we require a minimum of 20% personal contribution. Given the difficult fiscal position the Government inherited, there are no plans to increase the value of either scheme.
	Service leavers entering full-time higher education utilising Enhanced Learning Credits are not required to contribute towards tuition fees. Where the tuition fees exceed the sums mentioned above, the balance is met by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. In cases, therefore, where educational institutions are increasing their tuition fees, the value of the Government contribution will rise accordingly.

Armed Forces: Education

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which training providers his Department contracts to provide the Enhanced Learning Credit Scheme.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence is not in a contractual relationship with approved providers for training. However, our commercial partner G4S, which administers the scheme on our behalf, maintains a list of approved providers. As this contains the details of approximately 900 providers the document will be placed in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Education

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost was of fees paid by service leavers accessing a first full level 3 or higher education qualification under the Enhanced Learning Credit scheme in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11.

Andrew Robathan: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 January 2012, Official Report, column 304W.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress he has made on the review of pensions for armed service personnel; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: Lord Hutton's independent Public Service Pensions Commission published its report on pensions reform in March 2011. It set out recommendations for future pension arrangements that are sustainable and affordable in the long term, fair to both the public service work force and the taxpayer and consistent with the fiscal challenges ahead, while protecting accrued rights. The Government accepted Lord Hutton's report as a basis for consultation on the various schemes it covered. Work on a new armed forces pension scheme is going forward with a view to producing outline proposals in the next few months. The armed forces (and other interested parties) will be fully consulted before a decision is made.

Armed Forces: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what meetings if any Ministers in his Department have had with PTSD Resolution since May 2010.

Andrew Robathan: Defence Ministers regularly meet representatives of charities which raise money for, and represent the interests of, current and former members of our armed forces and their families, either on a one to one basis or as part of wider events organised by organisations such as Confederation of Service Charities or the Ministry of Defence's Welfare Conference.
	Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on the Ministry of Defence website at the following address:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/FinancialReports/Expenses/MinistersHospitalityReceived.htm
	The information currently published covers May 2010 to June 2011 arid is being updated on a quarterly basis in accordance with the Government's transparency programme.
	Ministers from the Ministry of Defence have had no meetings with representatives from PTSD Resolution.

Armed Forces: Secondment

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel were seconded to the armed forces of each foreign government in 2011; and what the cost to his Department was of such secondments.

Andrew Robathan: The MOD seconded 13 service personnel to the armed forces of foreign governments in 2011. 11 were seconded to the Saudi Arabian National Guard and two to the Bermudan Defence Force; although this reduced to one in July 2011.
	There is no cost to the Department against personnel seconded to the armed forces of other governments. Their full manpower costs including salary, allowances, national insurance and pension contributions, are met by the host nation.

Armed Forces: Security

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role the military will have in the provision of security for Olympic events taking place in Dorset.

Nick Harvey: The Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), announced to the House on 15 December 2011, Official Report, columns 116-17WS, that the Ministry of Defence has been working closely with Dorset police to scope the provision of specialist support for maritime security operations in Weymouth Bay. It is currently planned for HMS Bulwark to be based there during the games, providing maritime surveillance and a temporary maritime command, control, communications and co-ordination centre. Defence will also be providing support to the police for above and below-water venue search, the capability to interdict vessels and assets for maritime logistic support.

Bombs: Olympic Games 2012

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what resources his Department will provide for bomb detection during the period of the London 2012 Olympics; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: The Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), announced to the House on 15 December 2011, Official Report, columns 116-17WS, that the Ministry of Defence will increase the normal capacity of the armed forces in several specialist areas which are routinely provided to civil authorities in order to enhance their security capabilities. This includes the provision of Explosive Ordnance Disposal, military working dogs and specialist military search capability for, vehicles and buildings at Olympic venues across the UK.

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: We do not permit public expenditure on Christmas trees and decorations, with the exception of expenditure which is covered by the Family Welfare Grant. This supports activities that enhance the morale of families of service personnel who are separated from their loved ones serving in operational theatres.
	We have identified expenditure of £172 on Christmas trees and £428 on decorations in 2011 from this grant.

Clyde Submarine Base

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the asset value of the Royal Armaments Depot at Coulport.

Andrew Robathan: The most recent estimate of the asset value of the Royal Armaments Depot at Coulport is £133.6 million.

Defence

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's brief for the Assistant Director of Information dated October 1998 D/DAO/14/3/5.

Liam Fox: I will write to the hon. Member.
	Substantive answer from Philip Hammond to Angus Robertson:
	My predecessor undertook to write to you in answer to your parliamentary question answered on 11 October 2011 (Official Report, column 334W) requesting a copy of the brief for the Assistant Director of Information dated October 1998 D/DAO/14/3/5 to be placed in the Library of the House.
	Officials have carried out an extensive search for the document you requested, totalling around 125 man-hours. This far exceeds the Parliamentary guidelines on cost limits for complying with Parliamentary Questions.
	As you are aware the requested document was referenced in the Haddon-Cave inquiry report and was provided to the Inquiry in 2008. The Haddon-Cave Inquiry was, with the XV230 Board of Inquiry and Coroner’s Inquest, the third major review of Nimrod Safety. MOD officials supported the Haddon-Cave Inquiry for over one year, collating and submitting documents from a large number of sources and archive sites. All safety lessons that could be identified from the documents were recorded. As you know the Department accepted responsibility for the loss of XV230 and again recorded safety critical observations and recommendations from these reviews. However, the individual documents were returned to their archive sites.
	The Nimrod is now out of service and the dedicated teams of Nimrod staffs have been dispersed. Safety critical lessons from the Nimrod review which have relevance for our in-service aircraft fleets have been fully captured and are available to Departmental personnel in safety related posts. However, to relocate the individual documents from archive that supported those lessons would place a significant additional burden on departmental staff.
	Consequently, while I realise this will come as a disappointment to you, the requested document could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the annual cost of administration of the (a) agencies and (b) trading funds within his responsibility.

Andrew Robathan: The annual cost of administration, based on total staff costs for 2010-11 of the Ministry of Defence’s current agencies given in their annual reports, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Agency £ million 
			 Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency (MDPGA) 305.675 
			 Service Children’s Education (SCE) 70.812 
		
	
	The costs for MOD’s trading fund agencies (UK Hydrographic Office, Defence Support Group and DSTL) are not a direct cost to MOD, but rather part of the overheads that are indirectly charged to all their customers.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's planned budget is for (a) the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations and (b) the London 2012 Olympic Games; and under what budget headings such expenditure will be made.

Nick Harvey: Funding of up to £4 million has been approved for the armed forces involvement in celebrations to mark Her Majesty the Queen's diamond jubilee. This includes the cost of the Diamond Jubilee Medal, to be awarded to all members of the armed forces meeting the eligibility criteria, and the cost of specific ceremonial events to mark this most important anniversary. Details of these events remain at the planning stage and will be announced in the coming months.
	The Department is in the process of finalising the allocation of the financial resources necessary to meet Defence support requests in relation to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The final allocation of resources will not be confirmed until the outcome of the current Defence Planning Round is endorsed by Ministers.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidelines his Department issues to its non-departmental public bodies on the employment of unpaid interns.

Andrew Robathan: The MOD has not issued specific advice to its non-departmental public bodies on the employment of interns but if advice is sought from the Department, non-departmental public bodies are referred to ‘The Common Best Practice Guide for High Quality Internships’ published by the Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum, a copy of which can be found on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/higher-education/docs/c/11-1068-common-best-practice-code-for-quality-internships.pdf

Dogs: Drugs

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many of his Department's sniffer dogs will return to the UK from Afghanistan for the London 2012 Olympics; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to manage the withdrawal of sniffer dogs from Afghanistan during the period of the London 2012 Olympics.

Nick Harvey: The Ministry of Defence has been asked to provide search dogs to support the London 2012 Olympic Games and these animals will be trained during the first half of 2012 by the Defence Animal Centre. No military working dogs will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in order to support this commitment.

EU Law

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department holds information on the EU regulations in its policy areas of responsibility which have not been implemented in (a) France and (b) Germany; on which dates those regulations became EU law; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: This information is publicly available on the European Commission's EUR-Lex website:
	http://eur-lex.europa.eu

EU Law

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which EU regulations his Department has not implemented; on what date the regulations became EU law; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The only EU directive that has not yet been implemented by the Ministry of Defence is Directive 2010/64/EU of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings. This directive must be implemented by 27 October 2013.

Ex-servicemen: Armed Forces

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel left the armed forces in each year since 2008.

Andrew Robathan: The following table lists the outflow from the armed forces for each financial year since 1 April 2008. Further information can be found in the publication United Kingdom Defence Statistics 2011 in the Library of the House and at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=48&pubType=1&thiscontent=10&PublishTime= 09:30:00&date=2011-09-28&disText=2011&from=listing&topDate=2011-09-28
	
		
			 Financial year Total outflow from the trained strength 
			 2008-09 15,860 
			 2009-10 12,280 
			 2010-11 13,950

Falkland Island: Public Expenditure

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Government has spent defending and protecting the Falkland Islands in each of the last five years.

Nick Harvey: These costs to the Chief of Joint Operations Top Level Budget which is responsible for the Falkland Islands are as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2006-07 65 
			 2007-08 67 
			 2008-09 70 
			 2009-10 73 
			 2010-11 75 
		
	
	The MOD's core budget is separated into seven top level budget holders (TLBs), each responsible for delivering individual military objectives. Within these TLBs, the budget is not routinely allocated to regions. To provide the level of detailed breakdown for each TLBs expenditure in relation to the Falkland Islands would incur disproportionate cost.

Gurkhas: Redundancy

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria he is using to select people in Gurkha regiments for compulsory redundancy; and what his policy is on targeting a particular age range in the redundancy programme.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 23 January 2012
	The criteria used to select individuals for redundancy are the same for all army personnel, including Gurkhas. Those eligible under the Army Redundancy programme are scored by a board and placed in an order of merit based upon the evidence contained within their annual reports. These Boards take into consideration an individual's performance, potential and wider employability.
	Generally, applicants are then selected in preference to non-applicants, with the lowest scoring applicants taken first. Where there are insufficient applicants to meet the requirement the lowest scoring non-applicants are then selected for redundancy.
	Eligibility for redundancy is based upon identifying areas of surplus manpower, including the Gurkhas, by rank and trade, against a future reduced size of the regular Army. Within each Arm and Service of the Army there is an optimal number of personnel at each rank, distributed over a range of lengths of service.
	Any identified areas of excess are targeted for redundancy. Age is not a criterion for the selection of eligible soldiers in Tranche 2 of the Army Redundancy programme.

Gurkhas: Redundancy

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what support for resettlement his Department plans to provide to Gurkhas being made redundant.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 23 January 2012
	Gurkhas being made redundant will qualify for the same resettlement package as that available to all Army personnel. This includes financial related briefings covering budget and debt management, specialist housing advice, and advice on the importance of seeking medical help, including the ability to access mental health services should they feel it necessary. In addition, the UK Border Agency has agreed that Gurkhas can have their settlement applications to remain and work in the UK processed under special arrangements.
	Further support is also available through the Career Transition Partnership (a partnership between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Right Management) through training courses; career transition workshops; employment and future career advice; assistance with curriculum vitae writing and job preparation; vocational training; and a job-search/recruitment facility.
	As part of the special arrangements for redundancy all Army personnel, including Gurkhas, will receive the same level of graduated resettlement time (GRT) and training to which they would have been entitled had they completed their full commission or engagement. GRT is flexible time which may be used by personnel to complete resettlement activities such as training courses, civilian work attachments and other requirements including job and house hunting.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what alternatives he considered to the deployment of the F35 Joint Strike Fighter on aircraft carriers.

Peter Luff: A number of potential solutions to the UK's requirement for a joint combat aircraft able to provide a survivable and sustainable expeditionary air capability were considered prior to the decision in 2001 to select the F-35 joint strike fighter. These alternative solutions included an Advanced Harrier, a navalised Typhoon and the F/A 18 Super Hornet.
	The decision to select the F-35 joint strike fighter was reconfirmed during the 2010 strategic defence and security review.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when he last met his US counterpart to discuss the progress of the F35 programme;
	(2)  what progress reports on the F35 programme he has received from his US counterpart in the last 12 months.

Peter Luff: holding answer 20 January 2012
	The UK maintains close daily liaison with the US and is aware of the current status of the joint strike fighter (JSF) programme. Additionally, the UK has civilian and military personnel embedded within the JSF project office. The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), discussed JSF during his visit to the US on 5 January.

Libya: Armed Conflict

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the rate of re-supply of Tomahawk after Operation Ellamy; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: holding answer 19 January 2012
	Replenishment of UK stocks of Tomahawk missiles, following the conclusion of Operation Ellamy in October, is currently under review as part of the Department's planning process. As yet no decisions have been made.

Military Aid: Olympic Games 2012

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed services personnel providing security for the London 2012 Olympic Games will be given temporary accommodation in Newham.

Nick Harvey: It is currently envisaged that up to 300 service personnel, providing security for the London 2012 Olympic Games, will be accommodated in temporary accommodation in the Newham area.

Ministry of Defence Language Schools

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the proposed closure of Ministry of Defence language schools.

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has plans to close his Department's language schools; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 19 January 2012
	The Ministry of Defence has been reviewing its arrangements for language training including examining options for closer collaboration with the Foreign Office. Responsibility for language training has been transferred to the Defence Academy, which is assessing potential future delivery models and will make recommendations in due course.

Navy: Pitcairn Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many Royal Navy vessels have made a goodwill visit to the Pitcairn Islands in each of the last 10 years;
	(2)  whether he plans to deploy Royal Navy vessels on goodwill visits to the Pitcairn Islands.

Nick Harvey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 November 2011, Official Report, column 981W. The remoteness of Pitcairn Island is such that these visits are infrequent. The Royal Navy currently has no plans to visit the island.

Radiation Exposure

Gordon Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports he has received of the finding of radiation particles at Crowhill Wood, Fife; and what steps he plans to take in this respect.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 19 January 2012
	The Ministry of Defence (MOD) received a paper from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency on 16 December 2011 showing radioactive concentration ratios which do not appear to be naturally occurring. We are currently seeking to establish whether Crowhill was formerly owned by the department and whether any MOD activities were undertaken at Crowhill.

Submarines

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the Royal Navy's requirement for (a) numbers and (b) types of submarines to be available for operations in the next 10 years.

Peter Luff: holding answer 19 January 2012
	The Royal Navy's requirement for submarines was assessed during the strategic defence and security review. Over the next 10 years we plan to maintain a fleet of four Vanguard class ballistic-missile submarines delivering the strategic nuclear deterrent, and a fleet of seven nuclear attack submarines consisting of a mixture of Trafalgar class boats and the new Astute class boats which are replacing them.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to modify the MQ-9 Reaper with the new General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' trailing arm design main landing gear.

Peter Luff: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems have developed a solution for the main landing gear for both in service MQ-9 Reapers and those that are due to enter service in the near future. We are discussing this option with the United States Air Force and considering it alongside a range of other potential modifications to the UK's Reaper systems.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on which foreign aircraft personnel from 148 Battery Royal Artillery directed UK naval fire during Operation Ellamy.

Nick Harvey: US P3 Orion aircraft and Canadian CP-140 aircraft were used by UK personnel directing naval fire support from UK ships during Operation Ellamy. These personnel were trained, qualified, competent and current in directing naval fire support and had previous experience from 148 Battery Royal Artillery.

HEALTH

Accidents: Pedicabs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated in hospital for injuries resulting from accidents which occurred while they were passengers in pedicabs or rickshaws in the last three years.

Simon Burns: The information is not held in the format requested. The NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care has advised that the data it collects would include any type of cycle or three-wheeled motor vehicle. Therefore, it is not possible to extract data for injuries sustained by passengers in pedicabs or rickshaws.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support he is providing for patients who received implant surgery (a) privately and (b) on the NHS to receive a scan to determine whether their implants have ruptured or leaked.

Simon Burns: Patients who received an implant from Poly Implant Prothèse as part of NHS treatment in England will be contacted and offered a consultation and, if they wish, a scan to determine whether their implants have ruptured or leaked. They will also be given the option, after discussion, with their GP or with the surgical team that carried out the original operation, of having the implants removed and replaced, whether or not there is evidence that the implants have ruptured.
	We have made clear that we expect to private providers of cosmetic surgery to make the same provision, without cost, for their patients. A number of organisations have already announced that they will do so and we expect the remainder to follow suit. For any patient whose original provider has gone out of business, or which refuses to meet its moral and legal obligations, the NHS as provider of last resort will offer a consultation, a scan if desired, and removal (but not replacement) of the implants.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provided to GPs on the treatment of patients who express concern about implants.

Simon Burns: The Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, wrote to all general practitioners (GPs) in England on 6 January summarising the conclusions and advice of Sir Bruce Keogh's expert group on the breast implants made by Poly Implant Prothèse. More detailed guidance to GPs and specialists is included at Annex E of the expert group report, which was referenced in the letter.
	Copies of both documents have already been placed in the Library.

Business Interests

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many senior civil servants in his Department left to take up jobs in the (a) for-profit and (b) not-for-profit healthcare sector in the last two years.

Simon Burns: Members of the senior civil service (SCS) are subject to the rules of the Civil Service Management Code (section 4.3) on their taking up of outside appointments. This involves applications to ask for permission to take up the appointments and confirmation of any restrictions involved.
	During the last two years (to 31 December 2011) the. Department received applications from 24 members of the SCS wanting to take up appointments in the health care sector outside the Department. Of the potential employers, nine applications were for-profit organisations and 17 were non-profit organisations. Two individuals applied for permission to join both profit and non-profit health-related organisations.
	In all cases, approval was granted but the Department cannot confirm that the individuals took up the appointment. The Department does not keep records of where its former staff gain employment once they have left the organisation.

Care Quality Commission

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical staff in each speciality work for the Care Quality Commission.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has provided the following information:
	The CQC employs a number of National Professional Advisors from a variety of specialties who support both policy and operational regulatory activity. These include five doctors from various specialties, including surgery, general medicine, psychiatry, and general practice, as well a nurse/midwifery expert, a dentist, a social work expert, and an expert in ambulance services.
	The CQC has some specific responsibilities in relation to Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IRMER) and Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations 2006, where it both employs and has associate clinical experts to deliver these responsibilities. For this work, the CQC currently has approximately 26 staff in post hired for their pharmaceutical background and approximately three full-time equivalent IRMER inspectors in post who have clinical backgrounds as a requirement for these roles.
	The CQC uses professional experts in its thematic reviews including its dignity and nutrition inspections (DANI) and learning disability inspections. These experts are practising clinicians supporting the inspector. The experts are not CQC employees but are external experts who are selected on the basis of their own up to date practise and current expertise. Each DANI inspection had a frontline practising nurse in the inspection team.

Care Quality Commission

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average (a) time taken and (b) cost was of training an inspector at the Care Quality Commission in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11.

Simon Burns: As the independent regulator for health and adult social care, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for the appropriate training for its staff and assessing and ensuring the quality of its inspection and monitoring of specific providers on a day to day basis.
	The following information has been provided by the CQC;
	The average time to train an inspector or assessor:
	(1) 2009-10—11 days. This comprised of 6.5 days in workshops and 4.5 days e-learning.
	(2) 2010-11—20 days. This comprised of 17.5 days in workshops and 2.5 days e-learning.
	The average cost of training an inspector or assessor per year:
	(1) 2009-10. Workshop training cost £390 per individual and the e-learning cost £60 per individual. This would bring the average cost per individual to £450 for 2009-10.
	(2) 2010-11. Workshop training cost £810 per individual and the e-learning cost £183 per individual. This would bring the average cost per individual to £993 for 2010-11.

Care Quality Commission

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many inspections were carried out by the Care Quality Commission in respect of (a) hospitals and (b) care homes which involved on-site visits in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11;
	(2)  how many routine hospital inspections were carried out by the Care Quality Commission in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and how many such inspections involved a site visit by an inspector with a clinical qualification.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and is responsible for developing and consulting on its methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
	The CQC took over the regulation of health and adult social care under the Care Standards Act 2000. From April 2009, NHS providers were registered with the CQC against a single registration requirement relating to cleanliness and infection control.
	From 1 April 2010, NHS providers were registered with CQC against the full set of registration requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
	From 1 October 2010,. independent health care providers and adult social care providers came into the new regulatory framework and were registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
	The CQC has provided the following information:
	1. Hospital inspections:
	
		
			 (a) independent sector providers 
			  Independent healthcare inspections Independent hospital inspections Independent hospital inspections including a site visit 
			 2009-10 884 831 831 
			 2010-11 378 260 256 
			 Note: The table shows: inspections of independent hospitals under the Care Standards Act 2000 for the period 1 April 2009-30 September 2010; and reviews of compliance undertaken for acute independent sector hospitals under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 from October 2010-March 2011. 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) NHS providers 
			  2009-10 
			 NHS healthcare inspections (1)276 
			 Healthcare associated infection inspections of hospitals including a site visit(2) 356 
			 Core standards assessments including a site visit(3) 84 
			 (1) These reviews involved hospitals and other national health service organisations and may have included more than one visit. (2) The figures include the CQC’s healthcare associated infection inspection programme under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. 356 hospitals from 166 acute trusts were inspected under the programme. (3) The exact dates of core standards assessment inspections are not available. 84 inspections were undertaken between May and August 2009. Figures in the above analysis are based on one visit per inspection, which is a minimum figure. The actual number of site visits will have exceeded this. 
		
	
	
		
			  2010-11 
			 NHS inspections 482 
			 NHS hospital reviews of compliance 195 
			 NHS. hospital reviews of compliance including a site visit 174 
			 Note: The figures show reviews of compliance undertaken for acute hospitals under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, from April 2010-March 2011. 
		
	
	2. Care home inspections
	
		
			  Adult social care inspections Care homes inspections Care home inspections including a site visit 
			 2009-10 13,808 10,856 10,856 
			 2010-11 |6,508 5,207 5,078 
			 Notes: 1. The table shows: completed key and random inspections of care homes under the Care Standards Act 2000 for the period 1 April 2009-30 September 2010; and reviews of compliance undertaken for care homes under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 from 1 October 2010-31 March 2011. 2. Between April 2009 and end of September 2010 for adult social care and independent healthcare, sectors are based on registration data under the Care Standards Act 2000. From October 2010 (April 2010 for NHS providers), this is based on organisation type in the CQC database under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Small numbers of NHS and independent healthcare organisations provide social care type services under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. 3. Figures for adult social care inspections for 2009-10 do not match the CQC annual report for that period as the annual report was based on the number of reviews of compliance completed which were scheduled for the period. The figure here show all completed reviews of compliance in that period regardless of when they were scheduled. 4. Inspections of adult social care under the Care Standards Act 2000 include announced and unannounced key and random inspections. 5. The figures for the NHS do not include Ionising Radiation (medical exposure) Regulations inspections, controlled drugs inspections, OFSTED joint safeguarding inspections or mental health act visits. 6. The elate against which completed reviews of compliance are counted is when we make a judgment about compliance with, the essential standards. Due to the challenge processes available to providers in the publication process this may be up to three months before the review of compliance is published and can be marked as 'completed'. Figures from more recent months (late 2011) are therefore subject to change. The aggregate figures almost always rise. 
		
	
	Information on how many planned reviews involved an inspector with a clinical qualification is not held centrally by the CQC. The CQC has advised that to gather this data would incur disproportionate cost.

Care Quality Commission

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) start, (b) completion or expected completion date and (c) subject is of each investigation being conducted by the Care Quality Commission.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Section 48 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Act enables the CQC to look into actual or potential serious systematic failings within an organisation, without being limited to the essential standards, which the CQC routinely assesses organisations against.
	The following information has been supplied by the CQC;
	The CQC has carried out the following investigations under section 48 of the 2008 Act:
	1. Take Care Now
	Start date: May 2009
	Publication date: July 2010
	Subject: The CQC investigated out-of-hours services provided by Take Care Now, following a number of cases in which patients suffered harm. The CQC had been asked to review the out-of-hours arrangements in relation to these specific cases and generally, in order to be assured that all lessons have been identified and appropriate action taken.
	2. West London Mental Health NHS Trust
	Start date: March 2008 (under the Healthcare Commission)
	Publication date: July 2009
	Subject: The investigation focused on the systems that the trust had in place to ensure the safety of patients, and the quality of the services provided by the trust, covering the period from April 2005 to the end of 2007.
	3. Devon Partnership NHS Trust
	Start date: May 2009
	Publication date: June 2010
	Subject: At request of trust. The investigation focused on the provision of older people’s mental health services at all units across Devon.
	4. Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust
	Start date: June 2011
	Publication date: October 2011
	Subject: The CQC investigated the systems and procedures that are in place to ensure that people are protected against the risk of inappropriate or unsafe care and treatment.
	5. Pilgrim Hospital, United Lincolnshire NHS Trust
	Start date: June 2011
	Publication date: November 2011
	Subject: The CQC investigated the systems and procedures that are in place to ensure that people are protected against the risk of inappropriate or unsafe care and treatment.
	6. University Hospitals Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
	Start date: January 2012
	Expected completion date: eight to 14 weeks likely April/May 2012
	Subject: The CQC will be investigating the trust’s emergency care pathway and looking to see if there are any problems with the services a patient uses on that pathway and, if there are, to see if these are confined to those services or whether they reflect broader problems with trust processes and procedures.

Care Quality Commission

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the board minutes relating to the decision by the Care Quality Commission to abolish (a) its national investigation team, (b) its health care associated infection team and (c) a whistleblower telephone line.

Simon Burns: The following information has been provided by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
	The decision to move to a new field force model for the CQC inspectors included the abolition of the CQC national investigations team and health care associated infection teams. This was discussed in a private meeting of the CQC board on 9 December 2009.
	The CQC has provided a copy of the relevant part of the minutes of that meeting, which has been placed in the Library.
	Whistleblowing calls have always been and continue to be handled through the CQC’s national customer service centre telephone line. Anyone wishing to raise concerns about a provider, should call the CQC on 03000 616161.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The number of departmental staff engaged in corporate services on 31 December 2011 was 401 full-time equivalent staff. This represents 17% of the permanent workforce.
	Much of the work of the Department is critical to the successful operational delivery of many frontline services but it is not usual for its staff to have direct contact with patients and service users.

Doctors: Dismissal

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have been dismissed from the NHS as a result of having been struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) in each of the last five years; how many doctors were dismissed without having been struck off by the GMC; and how many doctors have been struck off by the GMC but redeployed within the NHS.

Anne Milton: The Department does not collect these statistics.
	Information about numbers of doctors struck off is held by the General Medical Council (GMC), as the independent regulator of doctors.
	The Department does not collect information relating to local national health service disciplinary procedures or about the redeployment of doctors struck of by the GMC.

Drugs: Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the requirement for import licences for controlled drugs for approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency with the anti-competitiveness provisions of article 28 of the EU treaty.

Simon Burns: The United Kingdom Parallel Import Licensing (PLPI) scheme allows medicinal products authorised in other European Union member states to be marketed in the UK, provided the imported products have no therapeutic difference from equivalent UK authorised products. The PLPI scheme involves an assessment of a dossier of information relating to the product to be imported. A fee is charged to recover operating costs associated with that assessment. This scheme may include medicines containing substances that are termed controlled drugs under Home Office legislation to control substances such as cocaine and certain substances used therapeutically. Where those substances are involved, the importer will need to comply with the relevant Home Office legislation as well.

Hospitals

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general acute, (b) multi-service, (c) short-term non-acute, (d) long-stay, (e) specialist and (f) community hospitals there were in England according to the most recent Estates Return Information Collection data in each financial year from 1997-98 to 2010-11.

Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The Estates Returns Information Collection was established in 2000-01, therefore data are not available before this period. Specific data on the number of multi-service hospitals and specialist hospitals was first collected in 2001-02. The collection of specific data on the. number of community hospitals began in 2006-07. These changes will mean that over time, hospitals in one category may have been moved to another category, which will affect the validity of direct comparisons year on year.
	The data which is available for each year from 2000-01 is shown in the table.
	The information has been supplied by the national health service and has not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.
	
		
			  Number of sites  
			  General acute hospitals Multiservice hospitals Short-term non-acute hospitals Long-stay hospitals Specialist hospitals Community hospitals Total 
			 2000-01 392 (1)— 390 394 (1)— (1)— 1,176 
			 2001-02 335 165 384 400 161 (1)— 1,445 
			 2002-03 312 209 376 426 192 (1)— 1,515 
			 2003-04 280 231 397 364 176 (1)— 1,448 
			 2004-05 290 221 414 331 170 (1)— 1,426 
			 2005-06 277 237 413 343 168 (1)— 1,438 
			 2006-07 270 139 252 295 174 404 1,534 
			 2007-08 258 135 229 294 161 402 1,479 
			 2008-09 274 135 219 273 185 428 1,514 
		
	
	
		
			 2009-10 259 127 236 278 178 438 1,516 
			 2010-11 257 129 237 257 176 428 1,484 
			 (1) Data not collected.

Influenza: Vaccination

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the likely take-up rates of the influenza vaccine (a) among each age group, (b) among people with different vulnerabilities to the illness and (c) by geographic area in the current period; and how these figures compare to actual take-up rates among such groups 12 months ago.

Anne Milton: The Chief Medical Officer's letter of 14 March 2011 asked the national health service to plan locally to reach or exceed uptake of 75% in people aged 65 years and over; and 60% in people under 65 in clinical risk groups. Final figures on uptake for the 2011-12 flu season will be published in the spring.
	Data on the uptake of seasonal flu vaccine in general practitioner patients recommended to receive the seasonal flu vaccine at strategic health authority and primary care trust level in the 2011-12 flu season, up to 31 December 2011, have already been placed in the Library and are available on the Department's website at:
	http://immunisation.dh.gov.uk
	A copy of the Health Protection Agency's annual influenza vaccination report for last winter, “Seasonal influenza vaccine uptake amongst GP patient groups in England 2010-11”, has already been placed in the Library.

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the contribution of UK mindfulness research centres and universities in developing in the NHS mindfulness-based practice and therapies.

Paul Burstow: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 24 October 2011, Official Report, columns 12-13W, which lists research projects and research training awards directly funded by the National Institute for Health Research in the last three years relating to mindfulness-based therapies, and the institutions funded.

Mental Illness

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) emergency and (b) elective admissions were recorded for patients with a diagnosis of (i) psychosis and (ii) schizophrenia in each primary care trust in England in the latest year for which figures are available.

Paul Burstow: A table showing emergency and elective admissions with psychosis and with a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been placed in the Library.
	I should reiterate that psychosis refers to a condition with features like delusions and hallucinations where the underlying diagnosis can vary and is not a diagnosis in and of itself.

Mental Illness: Research

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the NHS budget was allocated to research on the (a) causes and (b) treatments of (i) schizophrenia, (ii) depression and (iii) other serious mental illness in 2011-12; and how much the NHS allocated to research on the psychological and social effects of mental illness in 2011-12.

Paul Burstow: The usual practice of the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 545W, which stated estimated spend by the NIHR in 2010-11 on directly-funded research relating to the causes and treatments of schizophrenia, depression and other serious mental illness, and relating to the psychological and social impact of mental illness as a proportion of total directly-funded NIHR research. Expenditure figures for 2011-12 are not yet available.

NHS: Dismissal

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to simplify the process for removing poorly performing NHS staff, including nurses, GPs and other medical doctors.

Anne Milton: Issues relating to the performance management of individual members of national health service staff are a matter for those NHS bodies that employ or contract with them.
	The Department expects all NHS bodies to have robust conduct and performance management procedures in place, and to proactively manage poor performance in a manner consistent with wider employment law.

NHS: Work Experience

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the number of unpaid interns working in the NHS.

Simon Burns: The information requested on unpaid interns is not collected by the Department.

Pregnancy: Obesity

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance is provided to those working in NHS maternity services with regard to care for women who are obese;
	(2)  what proportion of births in the most recent year for which figures are available were to women who (a) were underweight, (b) had a healthy weight, (c) were overweight and (d) were obese;
	(3)  what advice is given by the NHS to obese women who (a) want to conceive and (b) are pregnant;
	(4)  what statistics his Department collects with regard to obesity in pregnancy.

Anne Milton: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued guidance for medical and healthcare professionals on “Weight management in Pregnancy and after Childbirth” in July 2010. This guidance sets out recommendations for advising and supporting women to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and/or weight loss programmes before, during and after pregnancy.
	Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) issued a joint guideline with Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE) for medical and healthcare professionals on “Management of women with obesity in pregnancy” in March 2010. The guideline covers interventions prior to conception, during and after pregnancy.
	In addition, RCOG has issued a patient information leaflet on “Why your weight, matters during pregnancy and after birth: information for you” in December 2011 about the extra care a woman will be offered during pregnancy and how she can minimise the risks to her and her baby in the current pregnancy, and in a future pregnancy. Obese women who want to conceive or are pregnant receive advice and support from their health professional.
	Local trusts have local protocols to support the management of obese pregnant women that take account of the need of these women, and the facilities and services available to them. Arrangements through maternity and neonatal networks support these mothers and their babies.
	The latest available data on obesity in pregnancy was published in the 2010 CMACE report “Maternal obesity in the UK: Findings from a national project”, which shows that in 2009 the prevalence of maternal obesity for England was 4.9% of women giving birth.
	Prevalence statistics on women giving birth who were underweight, had a healthy weight, or were overweight are not collected centrally.

Streptococcus: Babies

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines in November 2003 on reducing the number of incidents of group B streptococcal infections in newborn babies.

Anne Milton: The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) commissioned a clinical and cost effectiveness study comparing different approaches to group B streptococcus (GBS) infection. The main conclusion was that there was considerable uncertainty on the most effective approach to preventing early onset GBS infections in neonates.
	The UK NCS is currently reviewing the evidence for screening for group B streptococcus carriage in pregnant women. The committee will review the international literature and a public consultation on the results will open in spring 2012.
	The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is in the process of reviewing and updating the Green-Top guideline published in November 2003. The update will be published in spring 2012. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has developed a new guideline on the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection, including GBS, which is currently published for public consultation.

PRIME MINISTER

Bell Pottinger Group

Tom Watson: To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has received from Bell Pottinger Group on behalf of the President of Uzbekistan since May 2010.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 15 December 2011, Official Report, column 874W.

Social Action

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Prime Minister if he will set a national day to celebrate and encourage social action; and if he will make a statement.

David Cameron: The Government are engaging with a number of organisations to take forward the idea of a national day to celebrate social action.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Departmental Written Questions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2011, Official Report, column 480W, on departmental written questions, what procedures his office uses to track parliamentary questions which have been unanswered for 30 days.

Nicholas Clegg: All parliamentary questions tabled to me are monitored by the Cabinet Office Parliamentary Branch and by my private office.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2011, Official Report, column 532W, on the electoral register, whether any (a) Minister and (b) special adviser has had discussions with representatives of any US organisation that has promoted voter suppression.

Mark Harper: Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis. Information for the period April 2011 to June 2011 can be accessed on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-external-organisations-april-june
	We have no record of a Cabinet Office Minister or special adviser, during this Administration, meeting or corresponding with any US organisation that has promoted voter suppression.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what timescale he has set for the completion of (a) pilots and (b) research on electoral registration commissioned by his Office; and what timescale he has set for the introduction of proposed electoral registration legislation.

Mark Harper: The statutory window for the 2011 data matching pilots came to an end on 30 November 2011. The Electoral Commission have a statutory obligation to evaluate the pilots and report their findings by 1 March 2012. The Government are also in the process of making their own assessment of the pilots. The Government have a programme of research on electoral registration which sits alongside and supports the work to change the way in which people register to vote which will last for the length of this programme. We will introduce legislation when parliamentary time allows.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Association of Chief Police Officers and (b) other policing organisations on the potential effects of his plans for individual electoral registration on the size of the electoral register in areas with a high incidence of crime;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with black and minority ethnic community leaders on the potential effects of the Government's proposals for individual electoral registration on the level of registration in those groups;
	(3)  whether he has had discussions with members of the judiciary on the potential effects of the introduction of individual electoral registration on the number of eligible jurors.

Mark Harper: Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis. Information for the period April 2011 to June 2011 can be accessed on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-external-organisations-april-june

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 18 October 2011, Official Report, columns 822-23W, on electoral register, whether he has now estimated the potential effects of individual voter registration on the number of people registered to vote in each social category.

Mark Harper: The Government have made no estimate of the potential effects of individual electoral registration (IER) on the number of people registered to vote in each social category. The Government funded research by the Electoral Commission into the state of the electoral register. This showed that people who have moved home in the last 12 months, young people, those in private rented accommodation and certain black and ethnic minority groups were less likely to be registered. We will be carrying out further research with these under-registered groups to explore possible reasons for under-registration, views and perceptions of IER and ways in which they may be encouraged to register. These findings will be used to develop policy to tackle under-registration during the transition to individual electoral registration to ensure that as many eligible people as possible are registered to vote.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, columns 343-4W, on electoral register, whether the range of stakeholders referred to in the answer include representatives of (a) the judiciary, (b) the police, (c) black and minority ethnic groups and (d) young people; and if he will publish the complete list of such stakeholders.

Mark Harper: The wide range of stakeholders referred to in my answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, columns 343-44W, includes officials from the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Court Service, representatives of the police, black and minority ethnic groups, and young people. There are no plans to publish such a list.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 25 October 2011, Official Report, column 207W, on electoral register, if he will place in the Library a copy of the evidence from local authority chief executives and electoral registration officers.

Mark Harper: A list of organisations which have responded to the White Paper consultation on individual electoral registration will be published as part of the Government response.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the percentage change in registration rates if the Government's current proposals on individual electoral registration are implemented.

Mark Harper: The Government have made no estimate of the percentage change in registration rates based on our plans to implement individual electoral registration (IER). The ambition for the transition to IER is to build a register that is both accurate and complete. The Government are investing heavily to achieve this.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what meetings he has had with (a) the National Union of Students, (b) the Youth Parliament and (c) other youth representatives to discuss the likely effects of the Government's proposals on individual electoral registration on levels of registration among young people;
	(2)  what recent meetings he has had with (a) Liberty, (b) Unlock Democracy and (c) the Electoral Reform Society to discuss the potential effects of the Government's proposals on individual electoral registration.

Nicholas Clegg: Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis. Information for the period April 2011 to June 2011 can be accessed on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-external-organisations-april-june

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 25 October 2011, Official Report, column 208W, on electoral register, what assessment he has made of the extent to which his Department has succeeded in making the public aware of individual electoral registration; and how he measures success in this regard.

Mark Harper: The Electoral Commission has a statutory responsibility to promote public awareness of electoral systems. We are working with the Commission on the plans for public awareness activity to inform the public of the move to individual electoral registration. This activity has not begun, so no assessment has been made.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 27 October 2011, Official Report, column 352W, on electoral register, on the basis of what calculations the Government disagreed with the Electoral Commission's forecast of the likely reduction in registration if its proposals on individual electoral registration are implemented.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 27 October 2011, Official Report, column 627W. The Electoral Commission have made no forecast of registration rates following individual electoral registration (IER).
	In their evidence to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, the Commission speculated about a worst case scenario based on only those turning out to vote at elections registering to vote. The Government do not share this view. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this might occur.
	Furthermore, we now know that Northern Ireland, which implemented IER in 2002, has a registration rate comparable to the rest of Great Britain.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the briefing for the House of Lords debate of 12 January 2012 on electoral registration published by the Electoral Commission, what assessment he has made of the recommendation by the Commission that the Government should amend its approach to building electoral registers using individual electoral registration in 2014.

Mark Harper: The Government's response to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee's pre-legislative scrutiny report and the White Paper consultation on individual electoral registration will be published shortly.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the briefing for the Opposition Day debate on individual electoral registration published by the Electoral Commission, what assessment he has made of the Commission's conclusions on the potential effects of individual electoral registration on the completeness of the electoral register.

Mark Harper: The Government will very shortly be responding to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee's report on individual electoral registration (IER) and Electoral Administration provisions, and the IER White Paper consultation. This will include the Government's response to all the recommendations that the Electoral Commission has made on our proposals to implement IER. Our response will be laid before Parliament and will be available on the Cabinet Office website.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the civic functions that are aided by a complete electoral register apart from voting.

Mark Harper: The Government have not made a formal assessment.
	However, a more accurate and complete register would deliver increased benefits to those who are entitled to be supplied with a copy for permitted purposes as set out in legislation. This includes those civic and other functions for which the register is used, for example, jury selection.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the recommendation by the Electoral Commissioners that electoral registration officers conduct a full canvass in 2014.

Mark Harper: The Government will very shortly be responding to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee's report on individual electoral registration (IER) and Electoral Administration provisions, and the IER White Paper consultation. This will include responding to the Electoral Commission's recommendation that electoral registration officers conduct a full canvass in 2014. Our response will be laid before Parliament and will be available on the Cabinet Office website.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential effects of the introduction of individual electoral registration on registration rates in areas with a high incidence of crime.

Mark Harper: As has been the practice of previous Administrations, information relating to internal meetings is not normally disclosed.

Electoral Register

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what representations he has received in support of implementing an opt-out for electoral registration from organisations concerned with the administration of electoral registration;
	(2)  what assessment has been made of the potential effects of implementing an opt-out for electoral registration on the number of people registered to vote.

Mark Harper: The proposal for an opt-out for electoral registration was raised in numerous consultation responses to the individual electoral registration White Paper. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (PCRC) also raised this issue in their pre-legislative scrutiny report on individual electoral registration (IER). The Government's response to the PCRC report and the White Paper consultation on IER will be published shortly.

Electoral Register: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 25 October 2011, Official Report, column 207W, on electoral register, whether funding for the introduction of individual electoral registration will be ring-fenced.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer of 25 October 2011, Official Report, column 207W. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (PCRC) have recommended that we ring-fence the funding made available for the transition to individual electoral registration (IER). The Government will very shortly be responding to the PCRC report on IER.

Electoral Register: Northern Ireland

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, column 342W, on electoral register, what assessment he has made of the use of prize draws to improve electoral registration in Northern Ireland.

Mark Harper: No assessment has been made by the Cabinet Office of the use of prize draws to improve electoral registration in Northern Ireland. We are however learning from the experience of Northern Ireland as we develop our plans for implementing individual electoral registration (IER) in Great Britain. We will introduce a carry forward so that current electors who do not register under IER in 2014 will be able to vote at the 2015 general election. We will also not be requiring registered electors who remain at the same address to resupply personal identifiers each year. We will continue to learn from the best practices in Northern Ireland, and I myself have seen the excellent outreach they do to get attainers onto the electoral register.

EDUCATION

Academies: Governing Bodies

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on local councillors remaining on the governing bodies of schools that have been converted to academies.

Nick Gibb: The Government believes that Academy Trusts should be free to put in place the governance arrangements which they feel most appropriate for each academy for which they are responsible. The academy's articles of association, therefore, give a lot of flexibility to each Trust to shape governance arrangements as it sees fit. Local councillors can serve as any category of academy governor. The only restriction is that requirements under the Local Government and Housing Act restrict the number of local authority associated persons, including local authority employees or councillors.

Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of variations in the levels of children's subjective well-being in each (a) constituent part of the UK, (b) region and (c) socio-economic class.

Tim Loughton: No such assessment has been made by the Department for Education. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is developing subjective well-being measures for children and young people as part of the overall Measuring National Well-being Programme. The Department is working with the ONS to help them develop these measures.
	As discussed in their consultation document published on 31 October, The Office for National Statistics are aiming to develop measures in the Measuring National Well-being Programme which can be shown and compared for countries in the UK, regions of England, and smaller geographic units (where required) and can be analysed in ways which show distribution of outcomes for individuals or households, such as between poorest and richest households or by age group or employment status.
	The consultation document can be accessed via The Office for National Statistics website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_240726.pdf

Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what recent revised guidance his Department has issued to school inspectors on assessing (a) behaviour, (b) safety, (c) health and (d) emotional well-being of pupils;
	(2)  for what reasons Ofsted’s framework document for school inspection in 2012 does not refer to pupil well-being.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not issued guidance to school inspectors on these matters. It is for HM chief inspector to ensure that inspectors have the necessary guidance to enable them to inspect effectively against the requirements of the school inspection framework.
	Ofsted’s January 2012 school inspection framework reflects the provisions in section 41 of the Education Act 2011, which focuses reporting requirements around the core areas of pupils’ achievement; teaching quality; leadership; and pupils’ behaviour and safety. Inspectors are also required to consider how the school meets the needs of the range of pupils and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. All these matters are relevant to pupils’ well-being. The inspection framework enables aspects of well-being to be considered in an integrated way linked to the core inspection areas.

Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with the Prime Minister on developing policies on well-being in schools.

Tim Loughton: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), meets the Prime Minister frequently to discuss a wide-range of issues relating to the Department for Education, which has or shares policy responsibility for a number of the key determinants of children's well-being. These include policies designed to: raise educational attainment; tackle bullying in schools; reduce child poverty; and provide opportunities for young people to engage in personal development programmes, such as the National Citizens Service.

Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what account he has taken of the (a) Cambridge Primary Review and (b) Rose Review in developing policies on well-being in primary schools.

Nick Gibb: The Government are slimming down the statutory curriculum for England so that it properly reflects the body of essential knowledge in key subjects and gives schools the freedom and space they need to teach a curriculum that engages their pupils. A slimmed-down national curriculum will also free up teachers to use their professional judgement to design curricula that meet the needs of their pupils.
	All recent reviews of the national curriculum have been considered in the current national curriculum review, including (a) the Cambridge Primary Review and (b) Sir Jim Rose's Review of the Primary Curriculum.
	The review of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), which is a non-statutory subject for both primary and secondary schools, was launched on 21 July. The PSHE review will identify the core body of knowledge that pupils need, as well as ways to improve the quality of teaching. In addition to considering the submissions of evidence and good practice the review will also evaluate the existing research available on PSHE education and its teaching.

Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make an assessment of the potential of Chicago University's meta analysis of social and emotional learning programme to inform policies on children's well-being in the UK.

Nick Gibb: As part of the legal requirement on schools to take care of the wellbeing of their pupils, schools in England are expected to identify the needs of their pupils and provide them with pastoral care and support. This support can range from providing breakfast clubs, to ensuring pupils have a nutritious start to the day, to offering out of school activities to enrich the curriculum, or providing mentoring and peer support activities.
	Schools are best placed to determine the appropriateness of alternative programmes for meeting their responsibilities.
	The government's review of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education will identify the core body of knowledge that pupils need, as well as ways to improve the quality of PSHE teaching. The review will also evaluate the existing research available on PSHE education and its teaching.

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education did not incur expenditure on the purchase of Christmas trees or other Christmas decorations in 2011.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: At 30 November 2011 the Department for Education had:
	(a) 1,717.1 full-time equivalent staff delivering frontline services; and
	(b) 916.1 full-time equivalent staff engaged in corporate or back office services.

Departmental Recruitment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many new staff at each grade were employed by his Department in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and how many of those new employees, in each such year, came from jobs outside the civil service and non-departmental public bodies.

Tim Loughton: The Department has employed new staff as follows.
	
		
			 Grade group New joiners in 2009-10 New joiners from outside the civil service 2009-10 New joiners in 2010-11 New joiners from outside the civil service in 2010-11 
			 EA 48 48 1 0 
			 EA AA SG Band 2 2 2 0 0 
			 EA AO 3 3 0 0 
			 EO 82 63 22 6 
			 HEO 89 64 39 12 
			 SEO 42 24 33 1 
			 G7 35 15 36 0 
			 G6 10 3 13 0 
			 SCS 7 5 9 4 
			 Total 318 227 153 23

Departmental Temporary Employment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many temporary staff have been employed by his Department in each month since May 2010; and what the (a) period of employment and (b) total cost to the public purse was in each case.

Tim Loughton: The numbers of new temporary engagements for agency staff per month for the period May 2010 to November 2011 for the Department for Education are as follows:
	
		
			 Month Number of new agency staff hired Total cost of agency staff (1) (£) 
			 2010   
			 May 7 53,746.72 
			 June 0 48,299.57 
			 July 0 50,697.59 
			 August 1 28,022.13 
			 September 0 18,998.46 
			 October 9 18,220.57 
			 November 1 30,072.24 
			 December 1 20,482.64 
			    
			 2011   
			 January 15 20,100.94 
			 February 5 22,563.75 
			 March 5 37,266.07 
			 April 0 38,189.72 
			 May 2 19,376.94 
			 June 36 20,943.71 
			 July 13 54,420.33 
			 August 7 113,491.60 
			 September 4 77,541.99 
			 October 8 78,713.38 
			 November 1 76,875.17 
			 Total  828,023.52 
			 (1) This figure is the monthly cost to the Department for the use of agency staff (not just new engagements). 
		
	
	Information on the period of each engagement and the total for each engagement is not available centrally.

Departmental Vacancies

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many job vacancies at each grade there were in his Department in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education and its predecessors had 60 vacancies in the period from November 2009(1) to March 2010 and 351 vacancies in the period April 2010 to March 2011. A breakdown of these vacancies by grade is given as follows.
	
		
			 Grade Vacancies between Nov ember  2009 and March 2010 (1) Vacancies between April 2010 and March 2011 
			 EA 5 26 
			 EO 8 83 
			 HEO 8 99 
			 Higher Statistical Officer 1 4 
			 Scientific Officer — 1 
			 Statistical Officer — 1 
			 Research Officer — 1 
			 SEO 6 21 
			 Senior Scientific Officer — 2 
			 G7 19 65 
			 G7 Accountant 1 1 
			 G6 12 47 
		
	
	
		
			 SCS(2) — — 
			 Total 60 351 
			 (1) Data is only available from November 2009 when the Department moved to a new Shared Services Provider. (2) SCS vacancies are managed differently and managed moves are quite often used to meet the business needs of the Department. No central record is held on the number of SCS vacancies; however, in the two years (2009-10 and 2010-11) there were 16 new SCS appointments, nine of which were from outside the civil service.

Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has assessed the potential effects of mindfulness-based practices on educational attainment.

Nick Gibb: The Department has carried out no assessment to date on the effects of mindfulness-based practices on educational attainment.

Education: Finance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many learners aged 19 years at the start of their course claimed Care to Learn in (a) Middlesbrough local authority, (b) Redcar and Cleveland local authority, (c) the Tees Valley and (d) the north east in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12 to date.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) which has operational responsibility for Care to Learn. The YPLA's Chief Executive, Peter Lauener, will write to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland directly with a breakdown of the figures requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

Education: Finance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when his Department plans to publish (a) a summary and (b) full results of its consultation on the future of Care to Learn funding.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 23 January 2012
	We are considering the results of the consultation and will set out decisions concerning future arrangements and the publication of the consultation outcomes in due course.

Education: Leeds

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions his officials have had with Leeds city council on the Leeds Education Challenge.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 December 2011
	Leeds Education Challenge was submitted to the Department on 15 April 2011 in response to the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), letter of 1 March 2011 asking local authorities to draw up plans for improving performance in all schools below the national floor standards.
	The plan was discussed at a meeting with the local authority on 19 July and there have been a number of subsequent meetings where the plan has been referred to in discussions on identifying academy solutions for underperforming schools.

Members: Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to reply to the letter of 13 December 2011 from the hon. Member for Harrow West; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 January 2012
	I replied on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), to the hon. Member on 19 January 2012.

Schools

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the contribution of UK mindfulness research centres and universities in developing in schools mindfulness-based practice and therapies.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has made no assessment of this issue.

Schools: Sports

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what information his Department holds on how many pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary education took part in (i) an activity in a swimming pool, (ii) water sports, (iii) boating, (iv) go-karting, (v) horse riding and equestrian sports and (vi) adventure activity and education field studies in (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11.

Tim Loughton: Information for 2009/10 from the PE and Sport Survey is set out in the following table. Information is no longer collected.
	
		
			  Percentage provided to any 
			  Primary schools Secondary schools 
			 Swimming 88 67 
			 Outdoors & adventurous activity 70 76 
			 Canoeing 26 37 
			 Rowing 6 42 
			 Sailing 7 22 
			 Equestrian 2 13

Schools: Swindon

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils in South Swindon constituency gained Level 4 at Key Stage 2 in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is given in the following table:
	
		
			 Achievements at the expected level (1)  by pupils at the end of key stage 2 in South Swindon parliamentary constituency (2) , South West region (3)  and England (4) —Years: 2007-11 (5) —Coverage: England (6) 
			 Percentage of KS2 pupils achieving expected level in: 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 English      
			 South Swindon 81 81 82 80 83 
			 South West 81 82 81 81 82 
			 England 80 81 80 81 82 
			 Maths      
			 South Swindon 79 82 81 80 82 
			 South West 77 79 79 80 81 
			 England 77 79 79 80 81 
			 English and Maths      
			 South Swindon 73 75 75 73 76 
			 South West 72 73 72 74 75 
			 England 71 73 72 74 74 
			 (1) Includes pupils who achieved level 4 or above. Level 4 is the expected level of achievement for pupils at the end of key stage 2. (2) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (3) Regional figures are based on the region of the local authority maintaining the school. (4) England figures are the sum of all local authority figures and match the England totals in the local authority tables of the statistical first release: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001047/index.shtml These may differ to the England totals in the national tables in the statistical first release. (5) Data is final data for all years apart from 2011 which is based on amended data. (6) Includes LA maintained schools and academies. Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. Source: National Pupil Database 
		
	
	South West and England figures are taken from table 23 in the statistical first release “National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 2 in England 2010/2011 (revised)”, published at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001047/index.shtml

Schools: Technology

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate his Department has made of the excess costs that have been incurred by schools sold or leased IT equipment at above market prices.

Tim Loughton: The Department does not hold estimates of the excess costs that have been incurred by schools sold or leased-IT equipment at above market prices.
	The Department collects a consistent financial reporting (CFR) return for all schools maintained by local authorities (LAs) at the end of each financial year. CFR does not record spending in a way that specifically identifies how much each school has spent on bought or leased IT equipment.

Schools: Technology

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to prevent schools from being sold or leased IT equipment at above market prices.

Tim Loughton: The Department have been working for some time to support schools to improve the way they buy goods and services, including IT equipment.
	Schools have autonomy over their budgets, and the Department has worked and continues to work with a wide range of organisations and key stakeholders to ensure that the information available on the Department's website on best practice, guidance on leasing and clear advice on how to get the best value for money is cascaded to schools.

Schools: Technology

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of schools that have been sold or leased IT equipment at above market prices.

Tim Loughton: The Department does not hold estimates of the excess costs that have been incurred by schools sold or leased IT equipment at above market prices.
	The Department collects a Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) return for all schools maintained by local authorities (LAs) at the end of each financial year. CFR does not record spending in a way that specifically identifies how much each school has spent on bought or leased IT equipment.

Social and Emotional Learning

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on promoting social and emotional learning.

Nick Gibb: As we said in “The Importance of Teaching:” the majority of the important work that schools do is not as a result of Government prescription. Good schools play a vital role as promoters of health and wellbeing in the local community and have always had good pastoral systems. We believe that good schools are better able to achieve this important role without central government promotion of social and emotional learning.
	The national curriculum for England is being reviewed so that it properly reflects the body of essential knowledge in key subjects and gives schools the freedom and space they need to teach a curriculum that engages their pupils. A slimmed-down national curriculum will also free up teachers to use their professional judgement to design curricula that meet the needs of their pupils. This is consistent with the underlying principles set out in “The Importance of Teaching.”

Social and Emotional Learning

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what policies his Department is implementing as part of the Government's well-being agenda.

Tim Loughton: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), is responsible for a wide-range of issues which relate to a number of the key determinants of children's well-being. These include policies designed to: raise educational attainment; tackle bullying in schools; reduce child poverty; and provide opportunities for young people to engage in personal development programmes, such as the National Citizens Service.

Teachers

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to simplify the process for removing poorly performing teachers; and whether he has considered allowing schools that remove teachers to pass such information to schools that are considering employing them in the future.

Nick Gibb: On 13 January, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), announced new arrangements for tackling underperformance. We have published an optional model policy for schools which includes procedures to use when dealing with underperforming teachers. These procedures are shorter and less complex than the current procedure and will make it possible, in some cases, for schools to dismiss incompetent teachers in about a term.
	We are also consulting on a proposal to introduce a new requirement on governing bodies to share information about whether or not a teacher or head teacher has been in capability procedures when this is requested by prospective employers. This is intended to help reduce the recycling of poor performers from school to school by enabling governing bodies to make better informed decisions when making teaching appointments.

Teachers: Disciplinary Proceedings

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education under what procedure outstanding disciplinary cases referred to England’s General Teaching Council (GTC) since August 2011 will be dealt with when the GTC is replaced by the Teaching Agency.

Nick Gibb: Cases referred to the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) since August 2011 that have not been concluded by the GTCE prior to its abolition will transfer to the Teaching Agency where they are within the scope of its regulatory arrangements. Under the new regulatory arrangements set out in the Education Act 2011, the Teaching Agency will consider only the most serious cases of misconduct. Lesser allegations will not continue to be considered at the national level.

JUSTICE

Bronzefield Prison: Visits

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Police National Computer checks the police have carried out on visitors to Bronzefield prison.

Crispin Blunt: There are no records regarding police PNC checks of visitors at HMP Bronzefield and to answer the question would result in disproportionate cost by having to obtain a list of all visitors to HMP Bronzefield and for that list to be cross checked against activity logs from the PNC.

Community Orders: Per Capita Costs

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his most recent estimate is of the average annual cost to the probation service of supervising an individual on a community order.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is currently specifying and costing activities undertaken by probation trusts.
	As part of the Government’s commitment to provide greater transparency, to enable the public to hold services to account and assess whether they are receiving value for money from the services we provide, NOMS will publish, in autumn 2012, three probation level input indicators, one of which is the cost per community order. This will be the average, fully-apportioned cost to probation of delivering a community order or suspended sentence order sentence to the service definition as detailed in the NOMS service specification. This will include both managing the sentence and delivering court-ordered requirements. The cost of the latter will be derived from the average number and type of requirements attached to a sentence for an offender on each tier.

Contact Orders

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for a contact order under the Children Act 1989 were made by (a) males and (b) females (i) between April 2010 and March 2011 and (ii) in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the respective proportions were of applications from each sex.

Jonathan Djanogly: Information on the number and percentage of applications for a contact order under the Children Act 1989 made by males and females between April 2010 and March 2011, and for the latest period available (April to June 2011) are provided in the following table. The statistics are not available split by males and females for applications made at Family Proceedings Courts in the former period.
	Statistics for private law applications in the quarter July to September 2011 are due to be published in the next edition of the report Court Statistics Quarterly, which was published on 12 January 2012 and available from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/courts-and-sentencing/judicial-quarterly.htm
	
		
			 Number of children involved in applications for section 8 contact orders made by males and females within private law cases in England and Wales 
			  April 2010 to March 2011 April to June 2011 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 County Courts and High Court     
			 Female 7,720 23 1,450 25 
			 Male 25,700 75 4,220 72 
			 Both 630 2 130 2 
			 Unknown 80 0 50 1 
			 Total 34,130 100 5,840 100 
			      
			 Family Proceedings Courts     
			 Female — — 350 18 
			 Male — — 1,540 80 
			 Both — — 30 2 
			 Unknown — — 0 0 
			 Total 10,630 — 1,920 100 
			      
			 All Courts     
			 Female — — 1,790 23 
			 Male — — 5,760 74 
			 Both — — 160 2 
		
	
	
		
			 Unknown — — 50 1 
			 Total 44,750 — 7,760 100 
			 Notes: 1. The figures relate to the number of children involved in each application. 2. The figures relate to the total number of section 8 contact orders applied for within private law cases in the Family Proceedings Courts, the county courts and the High Court of England and Wales. 3. Prior to 2011, some Family Proceedings Courts submitted their data on a summary return which does not provide information on the gender of the applicant. As such, a gender breakdown has not been provided for Family Proceedings Courts in 2010-11. 4. The figures exclude applications for section 8 contact orders made within public law cases. 5. Applicants include, for example, parents, step-parents and grandparents. 6. ‘Both’ refers to instances where there were records for both a female and male applicant. 7. ‘Unknown’ refers to instances where the gender of the applicant was not recorded. 8. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Therefore, totals may not add up due to rounding. Source: HMCTS FamilyMan and summary returns.

Crown Dependencies: Diamond Jubilee 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assistance his Department is giving to Crown Dependencies to mark Her Majesty the Queen's diamond jubilee.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Crown Dependencies are self-governing jurisdictions, and each is making its own plans to mark the diamond jubilee. No requests have been made to the Ministry of Justice for assistance in planning these events.

Departmental Consultants

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has spent on each external consulting firm it has engaged since May 2010.

Kenneth Clarke: This information has been placed in the House Library.

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice delivers most of its services through its executive agencies. As these executive agency staff in local offices, prisons, courts and tribunals across England and Wales work in both public facing and back office roles, it not possible to clearly distinguish front line employees from other workers.
	However, as at November 2011, out of a total of 68,255 full-time equivalent civil servants employed by the Ministry of Justice 44,325 worked in the National Offender Management Service; 19,254 worked for HM Courts and Tribunals Service; and 493 worked for The Office of the Public Guardian. These executive agencies have a primarily public service delivery role.
	The remaining 4,183 staff are employed in the Ministry of Justice corporate and policy functions, including ministerial offices, finance, estates management, security, HR, shared services, legal, criminal justice policy and communications. Details about staff numbers can be found on the Ministry's website at the following address:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/transparency-data/workforce-management-info.htm

Employment Tribunals Service

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of cases brought before employment tribunals were successful in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the total value was of compensation payments ordered by employment tribunals in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(3)  what the total cost to the public purse was of employment tribunals in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jonathan Djanogly: The information is as follows:
	(1) A claim to an employment tribunal can be made on a number of different grounds; these are known as jurisdictional complaints. The latest period for which figures are available and are published is 1 July 2011-30 September 2011. In that period, the total number of claims received was 40,300. These claims consist of some 75,500 jurisdictional complaints. In that same period, 58,700 jurisdictional complaints were disposed of. The following table provides details of the disposal of those cases.
	
		
			 Disposal of employment tribunal claims 
			  Successful at tribunal Dismissed at a preliminary hearing Unsuccessful at hearing Default judgment Withdrawn Acas conciliated Struck out (not at hearing) 
			 Number of jurisdictional complaints 5,800 1,300 3,900 4,000 15,700 17,800 10,300 
			 Percentage against total disposals 10 2 7 7 27 30 17 
			 Note: Figures may not add to totals because of rounding. Quarterly data is reconciled at the end of the year. 
		
	
	(2) The latest period for which figures are available and published are in the annual Employment Tribunals and EAT Statistics, 2010/11. Employment tribunals (ETs) do not gather details of the awards made in all cases heard but only those cases in which a compensatory award is made, i.e. claims relating to unfair dismissal and discrimination. The following table shows the number of awards made in each of the jurisdictions for which information is gathered and the maximum, median and average of the awards made.
	
		
			 Employment tribunal awards  (£) 
			 Jurisdiction Age  d iscrimination Disability  d iscrimination Race  d iscrimination Religious  d iscrimination Sex  d iscrimination Sexual orientation  d iscrimination Unfair  d ismissal (1) 
			 Max award 144,100 181,083 62,530 20,221 289,167 47,633 181,754 
			 Median award 12,697 6,142 6,277 6.892 6,078 5,500 4,591 
			 Average award 30,289 14,137 12,108 8,515 13,911 11,671 8,924 
			 (1 )The maximum award for compensation in unfair dismissal cases is limited on 1 February each year by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. From 1 February 2011 the limit is £68,400. However, awards can be above the maximum when they include a basic award element in addition to the compensatory element. There is no statutory cap where the dismissal is for health and safety reasons or for making a protected disclosure or in cases of discrimination. 
		
	
	The distribution of awards in unfair dismissal and discrimination cases is detailed in Tables 5 to 11 of the annual Employment Tribunals and EAT Statistics, 2010-11.
	(3) Employment tribunals (ETs) are administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), which has a central operating budget. The direct element of that budget in relation to ETs was £60.9 million for 2010-11 and £59.7 million for 2011-12. These figures do not include apportioned corporate overheads. No detailed budgets have yet been agreed or finalised for future financial years.
	The reduction in budget allocation between 2010-11 and 2011-12 reflects the HMCTS drive for continual efficiency improvements. It also reflected a slight decrease in workloads before the ETs. The assessment made by HMCTS is that the reduction should not lead to any lengthier period between receipt and disposal of cases.
	MCTS publishes annual and quarterly statistics which cover workloads and performance against timeliness measures, including (where available) historic trends. This material is available on the Ministry of Justice website at the following internet address:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/tribunals/index.htm

Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what support he is giving to the Salvation Army's Trafficking Victim Support Scheme.

Crispin Blunt: Between them the Ministry of Justice and Home Office are providing the Salvation Army with £2 million funding per year to co-ordinate the provision of support services for victims of human trafficking.
	The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Salvation Army, with which it has a contract which came in to force last July, to ensure that victims of human trafficking receive the support they need.

Hunting: Prosecutions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) cautioned, (b) proceeded against and (c) convicted of an offence under the provisions of the (i) Game Act 1831, (ii) Deer Act 1991, (iii) Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (iv) Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, (v) Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, (vi) Animal Welfare Act 2006, (vii) Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994 and Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, (viii) Hunting Act 2004 and (ix) Night Poaching Act 1828 in each year from 2005 to 2010.

Crispin Blunt: The number of persons cautioned, and defendants proceeded against at magistrates court and found guilty at all courts for the requested offences in England and Wales from 2005 to 2010 can be viewed in the following tables.
	The Ministry of Justice has not received any reports of cautions, prosecutions or convictions under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations Act 2010.
	
		
			 Persons (1)  cautioned, and defendants (1)  proceeded against and found guilty of offences under selected legislation, England and Wales, 2005 - 10 (2) 
			 Defendants 
			  2005 2006 2007 
			 Legislation Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty 
			 Animal Welfare Act 2006(4) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 36 34 
			 Deer Act 1991 3 4 3 0 1 0 0 3 1 
			 Game Act 1831(5) 6 421 341 17 57 35 9 81 60 
			 Hunting Act 2004 1 2 2 0 11 5 8 62 48 
			 Night Poaching Act 1828(5) 2 36 29 2 19 14 10 21 16 
			 Protection of Badgers Act 1992 0 39 20 0 22 7 8 30 11 
			 Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 1 3 1 4 7 4 3 7 3 
			 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981(5) 18 62 44 14 150 109 19 49 38 
		
	
	
		
			 Defendants 
			  2008 (3) 2009 2010 
			 Legislation Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty 
			 Animal Welfare Act 2006(4) 7 1,026 784 17 1,414 1,073 15 1,413 1,081 
			 Deer Act 1991 0 4 1 4 3 2 0 10 5 
			 Game Act 1831(5) 17 125 110 5 163 128 15 178 135 
			 Hunting Act 2004 4 44 33 8 92 59 11 49 36 
			 Night Poaching Act 1828(5) 9 25 16 17 44 32 25 48 37 
			 Protection of Badgers Act 1992 2 37 22 2 50 30 6 50 30 
			 Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 0 6 5 2 8 5 2 6 4 
		
	
	
		
			 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981(5) 12 41 33 15 48 33 13 41 22 
			 n/a = Not applicable. (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. (4) The Animal Welfare Act 2006 came into effect on 8 November 2006 (5) Excludes offences that form part of a miscellaneous group that cannot be separately analysed.

Offenders: Literacy

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to help minor offenders overcome difficulties with reading and writing.

Crispin Blunt: Young offenders held in the secure estate receive an individual learning plan to address their learning needs and objectives while in custody. If not already known, offenders have their literacy and numeracy skills assessed on arrival in custody. Education providers use a Hidden Disabilities Questionnaire developed by Dyslexia Action to test anyone who shows signs of having a learning difficulty and/or disability. This identifies a range of learning difficulties, allowing the education provider to direct the learner to the appropriate learning support and for further assessments if necessary.

Prison: Visits

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons have made arrangements with the police to carry out Police National Computer checks on visitors.

Crispin Blunt: All prisons that hold category A prisoners have arrangements with the police to carry out PNC checks on visitors under the Approved Visitor Scheme. There is nothing to stop governors of other establishments applying for visitor information and the police will consider the lawfulness of the request. Governors can themselves access the PNC for information on prisoners.

Prisoners: Death

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many non-UK citizens have died in prison in each year from 1995.

Crispin Blunt: The number of non UK citizens who have died in prison since 1995 is contained in the following table. The information is based on the self-declared nationality given by a prisoner on reception into custody.
	
		
			  Deaths non-UK nationals 
			 1995 39 
			 1996 4 
			 1997 7 
			 1998 5 
			 1999 14 
			 2000 10 
			 2001 11 
			 2002 18 
			 2003 15 
			 2004 13 
			 2005 14 
			 2006 14 
			 2007 32 
			 2008 18 
			 2009 10 
			 2010(1) 23 
			 (1) Subject to revision

Suspended Sentence Orders: Community Orders

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that public bodies imposing (a) community orders and (b) suspended sentence orders ensure that the terms and requirements of the order are understood by their recipient, including people with a learning disability; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: There are policies and processes in place that require probation staff to explain the requirements of a community order and/or a suspended sentence order to an offender at the commencement of the order and to ensure that offenders are reminded of them throughout the sentence. Probation staff will take account of the needs of an individual offender and will adapt the style of communication given as maybe necessary.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the Big Society initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: Departmental Business Plans set out clear priorities across Government, including what we are putting in place to support the growth of big society, and we continue to report publicly on progress against these priorities at:
	http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/transparency/srp/
	Within the Ministry of Justice this includes reporting progress on initiatives such as various payment by results pilots, Neighbourhood Justice Panels and alternative dispute resolution.
	For example, the Ministry of Justice will collect data on the payment by results data to complete evaluations to determine the best way to implement payment by results principles. The evaluation will be published in due course.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect of removing welfare benefits from the scope of legal aid on the number of successful appeals against work capability assessments.

Jonathan Djanogly: The impact assessments published alongside both the consultation paper and the response to consultation lay out the best estimates of the potential effects of the reform programme. However, these did not specifically consider the effects of the reform programme on the number of successful appeals against work capability assessments.

Youth Justice: Enfield

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his assessment is of the outcome of the recent HM Inspectorate of Probation inspection of youth offending work in the London borough of Enfield; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: I welcome the recent report by HM Inspectorate of Probation on youth offending work in Enfield.
	This is an encouraging report showing progress in a challenging context. The Government are committed to improving the performance of all Youth Offending Teams. The Youth Justice Board has worked in partnership with Enfield to improve their performance and will continue to work with them to develop and deliver their post inspection improvement plan.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that schools and colleges provide effective advice on apprenticeship routes for young people.

John Hayes: From September, all schools in England will be placed under a legal duty to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance. We will issue statutory guidance to schools making their responsibility absolutely clear. This will include information about apprenticeships. The National Apprenticeship Service is working with schools to inform and prepare young people for apprenticeships. And we are reforming the national curriculum and raising standards in all our schools so that young people are better prepared for further learning, training or work.

Apprentices

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of steps taken to encourage employers and providers to provide level 3 and higher apprenticeship programmes in addition to higher volumes of level 2 apprenticeship programmes.

John Hayes: The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), works with employers and providers on a day to day basis to encourage them to provide advanced and higher level apprenticeships and through events such as National Apprenticeship Week which runs from 6 February this year.
	We have seen increases in the numbers of people starting and completing apprenticeships at all levels. Provisional data for the 2010/11 academic year show that there were 147,900 advanced level apprenticeship starts, up by around two-thirds on 2009/10 and up by around three-quarters on 2008/09, and that there were 2,100 higher apprenticeship starts, up by more than a third on 2009/10 and up from only 200 in 2008/09.
	NAS has allocated £18.7 million of the Higher Apprenticeship Fund which will support the development of an initial 19,000 new higher apprenticeships in sectors including construction, advanced engineering, insurance and financial services. A second round of bidding to the Fund will be announced shortly which will grow this number further. We will be assessing the impact of these projects over the coming 18 months.

Apprentices: Wiltshire

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employers in (a) Swindon, (b) Wiltshire and (c) England have received payments to take on their first young apprentice under the Government's incentive scheme.

John Hayes: The apprenticeship programme is demand led and take-up of apprenticeships by area depends on employer demand. We are therefore unable to provide estimates of the geographical distribution of those companies which will benefit from the incentive payments which the Government announced in November.
	Nationally we plan to make 40,000 incentive payments available for small companies who are not currently engaged in the apprenticeships programme who take on their first apprentices aged 16 to 24. The National Apprenticeship Service is currently working up a detailed delivery plan and companies will be able to benefit by April this year.

Bankruptcy

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many small and medium-sized businesses have filed for bankruptcy in the last 12 months in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England.

Edward Davey: Statistics covering corporate insolvencies for England and Wales are not currently available at sub-national level, or differentiated by firm size.

Business: Dismissal

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what timetable he expects to set for the consultation on no fault dismissal for small businesses.

Edward Davey: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), announced in November 2011 that the Government would seek evidence on the idea of introducing compensated no-fault dismissal for micro firms (i.e. firms which employ fewer than 10 staff). Officials in the Department are currently seeking views on progressing this and we will publish a formal call for evidence in due course. Decisions on whether to consult further will not be taken until the ensuing evidence has been fully assessed.

Catering: Public Consultation

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what conclusions relevant to the food and drink industry his Department has drawn from its Red Tape Challenge consultation to date.

Mark Prisk: The Hospitality, Food and Drink theme was in the Red Tape Challenge 'spotlight' from 6 May to 2 June 2011. The agreed deregulatory package was announced on 29 September 2011 and set out the plans to scrap or improve over 60 different rules and regulations. The full package is available at:
	http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2011/09/hospitality-food-and-drink-regulations

Catering: Public Consultation

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what conclusions relevant to the food and drink industry his Department has drawn from its consultation on modern workplaces to date.

Edward Davey: The approach to the modern workplaces consultation was not based on business sectors and our analysis will incorporate views from a broad spectrum of business and non-business responses.

Catering: Public Consultation

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what conclusions relevant to the food and drink industry his Department has drawn from its consultation on a competition regime for growth to date.

Edward Davey: The Government expect to publish their response to the consultation on “A Competition Regime for Growth” shortly. Conclusions will be relevant the role of the competition authorities across all sectors of the economy.

Catering: Public Consultation

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what responses his Department has received to its consultation entitled A Long-Term Focus for Corporate Britain: A Call for Evidence in relation to the food and drink industry.

Edward Davey: During the consultation entitled “A Long-Term Focus for Corporate Britain: A Call for Evidence”, which closed in January 2011, the Department received a response from Tate & Lyle. No other responses from the food and drink industry were received. All of the responses to the consultation can be found on the BIS website at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/a-long-term-focus-for-corporate-britain?cat=closedawaitingresponse

Christmas

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: In 2011 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spent £265 plus VAT on a Christmas tree for the reception at the Departments headquarters building. No other Christmas decorations were purchased.

Copyright: Arts

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effects on the creative industries of the proposals contained in the Government's Consultation on Copyright to (a) introduce an exception for private copying, (b) introduce an exception for official celebrations and (c) make exceptions override contractual provisions.

Edward Davey: The Government are currently seeking detailed evidence on the costs and benefits to all parties who could be affected by the proposals to modernise copyright, through public consultation. The Government have published initial impact assessments based on evidence currently available. These are published on the website of the Intellectual Property Office.

Flexible Working

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to ensure that the proposed extension of the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees does not (a) adversely affect existing flexible working rights and (b) result in employers rejecting requests without proper consideration.

Edward Davey: On 16 May 2011 the Government published a full impact assessment on the extension to the right to request flexible working to all employees, alongside the consultation document. We will publish a revised impact assessment alongside the Government response later this year.
	The impact assessment shows that we believe the extension will benefit parents and carers, who already have the right to request flexible working, as well as employees who do not currently have the right. The extension will help to change employer and employee attitudes towards flexible working and remove the perception that an employee only requests flexible working if they are less committed to the work force. Removing this stigma should increase the confidence of parents and carers to make a request, thereby increasing the number of requests.
	The changes to the right to request flexible working proposed in the Modern Workplaces consultation will not reduce protections for employees. The proposal is to replace the current rigid process for considering requests with a duty on employers to consider requests reasonably and within a reasonable period of time. We will publish a statutory code of practice to explain what we mean by reasonable. Employees will still be able to appeal to an employment tribunal if they believe their employer did not consider their request for flexible working reasonably or within a reasonable period of time. We have no intention of changing the existing eight business reasons that an employer needs to give if they refuse a request for flexible working.
	We believe that this change will enable employers to consider requests in a less bureaucratic way and in a way that fits with their existing procedures, while ensuring that all employees' requests are considered properly.

Graduates: British Nationals Abroad

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate has been made of the number of UK graduates living abroad.

David Willetts: holding answer 23 January 2012
	The requested data are not held centrally.

Green Investment Bank: Pay

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate has been made of the annual staffing costs of the Green Investment Bank on the basis of his Department's assumption that it will employ between 50 and 70 members of staff over the period to 2015 in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

Mark Prisk: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 19 December 2011, Official Report, column 1024W.

Higher Education

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to bring more UK universities into the top 100 universities in the world.

David Willetts: Our policies for higher education are designed to sustain and improve the sector's world class reputation. We have put in place reforms which mean a sustainable income stream for universities; a renewed focus on high-quality teaching so that it has the same prestige as research and we have reduced red tape—including enabling universities to collaborate more effectively and so drive up their performance. We have ring-fenced the science and research budget of £4.6 billion in cash terms, focusing investment on research excellence, and we have announced additional capital investment for research and innovation infrastructure. Through Higher Education Innovation Funding, universities are able to engage in knowledge exchange with the wider world.

Higher Education: Admissions

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which 100 schools had the highest proportion of applicants for undergraduate entry to Oxford and Cambridge universities accepted in 2011.

Nick Gibb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	The Department does not collect data on university acceptances, but does hold data on participation in higher education linked to the National Pupil Database, which allows progression to HE from schools to be estimated. The latest data relate to young people in higher education in 2009/10.
	The table showing the 100 secondary schools with the highest proportion of 2005/06 GCSE entrants progressing to enter either Oxford or Cambridge by 2009/10 has been placed in the House Libraries. The table does not take account of the institution where the student was during key stage 5.

Industrial Development Act 1982

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to publish the results of the consultation on changes to the Industrial Development Act 1982.

Mark Prisk: The Government's consultation covering these proposed changes closed on 2 November 2011 and we are aiming to publish a response in February 2012.

Legal Profession: Regulation

Alan Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's policy on regulation of legal services on access to redress by consumers.

Jonathan Djanogly: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Justice.
	The Legal Services Act 2007 established the Legal Services Board (LSB) as the oversight regulator for legal services, and the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) which administers the legal ombudsman scheme. This is an independent body to handle consumer complaints in respect of legal services provided by authorised persons.
	The 2007 Act requires the OLC and chief ombudsman to provide an annual report to Ministers and Parliament on the discharge of its functions and the extent to which they have met their regulatory objectives. This report was laid before Parliament on 18 July 2011 and identified areas where accessing redress for non regulated legal services may be limited for consumers. As the Minister responsible, I welcomed this analysis. The OLC and the LSB have recently published their business plans and three-year strategies for consultation which include proposals to ensure effective redress for consumers.

Manufacturing Industries: Government Assistance

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support for manufacturing industry.

Mark Prisk: There are a range of measures in place to support manufacturing industry. For example, on 6 December 2011, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), announced the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative. Up to £125 million will be used to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains by supporting innovative projects where the UK is well placed to take a global lead. The fund will be run on a competitive basis by the Technology Strategy Board. The manufacturing sector also has opportunities to participate in collaborative R and D projects funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the EU Framework Programme.
	In March 2011 we announced a new £75 million programme of targeted support to help smaller employers access advanced level and higher apprenticeships. Manufacturing companies, along with companies from other sectors, will benefit from this package. As part of this programme, on 22 July 2011, the Prime Minister announced details of a £25 million fund to support up to 10,000 advanced level and higher apprenticeships.
	In addition to this, there are measures in place to help small businesses and start-up companies access the finance they need, including:
	The Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme, which helps small businesses lacking track record or collateral secure bank finance;
	The Enterprise Capital Funds programme, which provides equity funding to high growth potential businesses;
	Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee which provides short-term export finance to viable small and medium sized enterprises unable to secure commercial funding due to lack of available security.
	The Government are also providing support to manufacturers and other businesses through the regional growth fund (RGF). The first two RGF rounds have allocated £1.4 billion to bids from industry, and from public private partnerships, which are expected to safeguard or create up to 326,000 jobs. An additional £1 billion for the RGF was set aside in the Autumn Statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810. Details of how to apply for future rounds of the fund will be published soon.

Retail Trade: Annual Reports

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will introduce measures to encourage large retailers to report on their support for local high streets as part of their corporate reporting.

Mark Prisk: The Mary Portas Review, an independent review into the future of high streets was published in December, setting out a series of recommendations for industry, local and central Government, including one recommendation which referred corporate reporting. The Government have welcomed the report. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are working closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government, who are leading on the Government response, due to be published in the spring.

Students: Finance

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) fee waivers, (b) bursaries and (c) other non-financial support packages in assisting students to meet the living costs associated with going to university.

David Willetts: The Government provide a comprehensive package of living costs support for students undertaking higher education courses. For students starting their courses from September 2012, this will include an increased grant for living costs worth £3,250 for all those from households with an income up to £25,000 and increased loans for living costs of up to £5,500 (or up to £7,675 for students living away from home and studying in London). The new grant and loan package will result in most students being better off in terms of overall living costs support than under the current system with the greatest support being targeted at students on the lowest incomes. No eligible student should be deterred from applying to higher education due to lack of access to finance.

Students: Loans

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to announce his decision on early repayment mechanisms for student loans.

David Willetts: holding answer 23 January 2012
	The Government published a consultation on potential early repayment mechanisms for student loans alongside the White Paper consultation, ‘Students at the Heart of the System’, on 28 June 2011.
	The Department also published a technical consultation document, ‘A new fit for purpose regulatory framework for the higher education sector’, on 4 August 2011.
	We intend to publish in due course a single response covering the range of issues which were considered in these three consultations. The response will include a list of respondents and a summary of responses for each of the three consultations.

Summertime

George Freeman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent meetings he has had with (a) the National Farmers Union and (b) other representatives of the farming community to discuss potential changes to daylight savings time; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: No such meetings have taken place. Rebecca Harris's Daylight Savings Bill, as amended in Committee, would require the Government to prepare a report on the potential costs and benefits of advancing UK time by one hour before taking any action. This report would need to reflect the views of all interested parties, including the farming community.

Supermarkets: Competition

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to assess the effectiveness of the voluntary code of practice between producers and supermarkets; and if he will made a statement.

Edward Davey: The Groceries Supply Code of Practice, which sets out how grocery producers and large grocery retailers should interact, is established on a statutory basis by Order of the Competition Commission. The current form of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice came into effect on 4 February 2010. The Office of Fair Trading has responsibility for keeping remedies such as this under review.
	Additionally, the Government plan to introduce a Groceries Code Adjudicator, to ensure that this Code of Practice is adhered to. The draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill sets out that this Adjudicator will be reviewed within the first three years after its introduction, and every three years thenceforth.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to measure progress on the implementation of policies supporting the big society initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), leads on promoting, focusing and facilitating the contribution of businesses to the big society under Every Business Commits. I chair a joint BIS and Cabinet Office Steering Group, with Sir Philip Green who has been appointed as our adviser on corporate responsibility and Every Business Commits. The Steering Group provides the leadership for, and oversight of, progress across Government on our priorities.
	Existing departmental business planning monitors progress on other BIS policies that contribute to the big society's drive to put individuals and communities in control: for example, empowering consumers, increasing learner choices, and supporting local enterprise partnerships.

Trade Unions: Training

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2011, Official Report, columns 1034-6W, on Trade Unions: Training, how many trade union representatives or officials undertook courses covering each of the learning aim titles.

John Hayes: Data which show the number of trade union representatives or officials who enrolled on trade union representative courses are not available.
	Information on further education and skills participation, enrolments and achievements is published in a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 27 October 2011:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current

Trade Unions: Training

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the (a) job titles and (b) pay bands are of trade union officials whose salaries have been funded by (i) the Union Learning Fund, (ii) public funds used to support TUC Education and (iii) other sources of public funding from his Department; and if he will make it his policy to name those individuals.

John Hayes: The information requested is as follows.
	(i) The Union Learning Fund (ULF) is only used to pay the salaries of project managers, project workers and finance officers/administrators in the field whose work is solely related to union learning. In addition, costs for TUC staff employed to undertake the work of unionlearn and administer the ULF are funded through the annual Grant Funding Agreement. The tables outline job titles and pay bands.
	(ii) The funding of TUC education courses, like all other further education and training courses is used to meet the costs of delivering the training not the salary costs of learners undertaking the training.
	(iii) One member of TUC staff is currently employed to lead on their Union Modernisation Fund Vulnerable Workers Project which is due to be completed in May 2012. The aim of the project is to support trade unions to tackle vulnerable employment and raise awareness among union representatives and workers of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline and the role that the enforcement bodies can play in protecting vulnerable workers.
	(iv) It is not the intention of BIS to make it policy to name individuals involved in the Union Learning Fund, unionlearn or the Union Modernisation Fund. This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Table A: Job titles project/admin workers of ULF funded within ULF 
			 Pay band Job titles 
			 Pay bands will vary across projects Project Managers 
			  Project Workers 
			  Finance Officers 
			  Administrators 
		
	
	
		
			 Table B: Job titles pay bands of TUC staff funded within ULF 
			 Pay band Job title 
			 Grade 2 1. Administrative Assistant 
			   
			 Grade 4 2. Administrative Assistant 
			  3. Union Development Administrator 
			   
			 Grade 5 4. Project Assistant 
			   
			 Grade 6 5. Assistant Project Support Officer 
			  6. Learning Centre Project Worker 
			  7. Office Administrator 
			  8. Senior Finance Assistant 
			  9. Union Support Officer 
			   
			 Grade 7 10. Apprenticeships Liaison and Promotions Officer 
			  11. Case Study Officer 
			  12. Climbing Frame Support Officer 
			  13. Development Worker 
			  14. E Learning Support Officer 
			  15. E-Learning and Communications Officer 
			  16. Finance Officer 
		
	
	
		
			  17. Management Information Officer 
			  18. National Learning Centres Support Officer 
			  19. Personnel Assistant 
			  20. Project Accountant 
			  21. Project Manager 
			  22. Projects Finance Officer 
			  23. Senior Union Support Officer 
			  24. Web Officer 
			   
			 Grade 8 25. Apprenticeships Policy and Campaigns Officer 
			  26. Bargaining for Skills Officer 
			  27. Development Co-ordinator 
			  28. Learning Centre Manager 
			  29. Management Accountant 
			  30. Media Officer 
			  31. Projects Coordinator 
			  32. Regional and Training Officer 
			  33. Regional Education and Training Officer 
			  34. Training and Development Officer 
			  35. Time to Train Policy Officer 
			  36. Unionlearn Strategic Support Officer 
			  37. ULF Co-ordinator 
			  38. Vulnerable Workers Policy Officer 
			   
			 Grade 9 39. Communications and Marketing Manager 
			  40. Regional Manager 
			  41. Research and Strategy Manager 
			  42. Standards and Quality Manager 
			  43. Union Development Manager 
			  44. ULF Manager 
			   
			 Grade 10 45. Unionlearn Director 
		
	
	
		
			 Table C: Job title and pay band of TUC staff member working on UMF project 
			 Pay band Job title 
			 Grade 8 46. Vulnerable Employment Policy Officer

Working Hours: EU Law

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects of the introduction of the European working time directive on (a) family life and (b) children's subjective well being; and whether he plans to make proposals for changes to the directive.

Edward Davey: The organisation of working time is only one aspect of a broader suite of social and economic policy measures which impact on family life and children's well-being and work. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has published a series of work-life balance surveys which looks at issues relating to work-life balance including working hours, the provision and take-up of flexible working arrangements, and employee attitudes to work-life balance issues. The latest published survey is available on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) website, and the fourth work life balance survey will be published later this year.
	European Social Partners are currently negotiating on the Working Time Directive, an autonomous process independent of the European Commission and member states.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with surgery companies on ensuring that the cost of (a) removing and (b) replacing implants which may include non-medical grade silicon gel as a result of product defaults is not passed on to their patients.

Simon Burns: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Health.
	Patients who received an implant from Poly Implant Prothèse as part of NHS treatment in England will be contacted and offered a consultation and, if they wish, a scan to determine whether their implants have ruptured or leaked. They will also be given the option, after discussion, with their GP or with the surgical team that carried out the original operation, of having the implants removed and replaced, whether or not there is evidence that the implants have ruptured.
	We have made clear that we expect to private providers of cosmetic surgery to make the same provision, without cost, for their patients. A number of organisations have already announced that they will do so and we expect the remainder to follow suit. For any patient whose original provider has gone out of business, or which refuses to meet its moral and legal obligations, the NHS as provider of last resort will offer a consultation, a scan if desired, and removal (but not replacement) of the implants.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many officials in his Department are solely responsible for Overseas Territory affairs; and what the (a) job title is and (b) specific responsibilities are of each such official.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has a dedicated department working on Overseas Territories that qualify for UK assistance. A total of 30 DFID officials work full-time on UK aid programmes providing assistance to St Helena, Montserrat, Tristan da Cunha and Pitcairn. Officials also monitor UK assistance provided to those Caribbean Territories which have required support to strengthen the management of their public finances.
	DFID advisers and staff work closely with partners in Overseas Territory Governments in providing this aid. Examples include (i) support provided for health and education programmes; (ii) expert economics, governance, environment, and infrastructure advice; and (iii) support with procurement and contracting. Regular monitoring and reviews of this aid ensures that UK assistance to the Overseas Territories is well targeted, provides value for money, and is being managed well. More information on DFID’s work in the Overseas Territories can be found at DFID’s website:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

Departmental Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged in delivering (a) frontline and (b) corporate or back office services; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: On 1 January 2012 the Department for International Development had 2,480 staff. 467 (18.8%) staff are in UK based corporate divisions and engaged in corporate or back office services. The remaining 2,013 staff (81.2%) are based in our Policy and International programme delivery divisions based both in the UK and overseas.

Sudan: Debts

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what consideration he has given to provision of debt relief to the government of Sudan.

Andrew Mitchell: Debt relief will be an important element of Sudan's economic development, which in turn will be critical if Sudan is to become a stable and peaceful nation. As such we have led international efforts to establish a technical working group on the issue, who are overseeing the necessary technical preparations for debt relief, meeting most recently in September 2011. However, as we have consistently made clear to the Sudanese Government, debt relief remains conditional on the need to see genuine progress toward inclusive peace and justice throughout the country, and resolving the outstanding issues from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Yemen: Overseas Aid

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has provided to Yemen since January 2011.

Alan Duncan: The amount of bilateral assistance provided to Yemen by the Department for International Development (DFID) is reported in “Statistics on International Development”, which is available in the Library of the House and on DFID's website.
	For the financial year 2010-11, total DFID bilateral programme expenditure was £51.1 million. For this financial year, 2011-12, bilateral programme spend to date is nearly £23 million, with significant further expenditure planned before the end of the financial year. A significant deterioration in security in Yemen during 2011 slowed DFID’s programme delivery and led to an increased focus on the provision of humanitarian assistance. Unlike other donors we decided not to suspend our programme. We hope that political transition progresses well and that we are able to scale up our programme in 2012-13.